The Kingston summer programme kicked off on 1 June with a six-round blitz, won by Joshua Pirgon on tie-break from Julian Ward in a well-contested tournament

Photograph (above): William Lin v Robin Haldane playing out a tense endgame

Kingston Chess Club, now fully installed in its new venue at the United Reformed Church in the heart of the town, is keen to keep up the momentum of a successful league season with a series of events this summer. The opening tournament – a six-round blitz played at the unusual time control of 3+7 (dubbed by arbiter on the night John Foley “the Kingston time control”) was won by Joshua Pirgon.

Joshua is a Surbiton player, but a key point about these events is that they are being thrown open not only to Kingston members but also players from other clubs, or indeed no club. We are trying to create a hub of year-round chess activity as well as fielding strong teams during the league season, and the success of this opening event led us to believe we are on to something.

Joshua tied on five points with Julian Ward, but was awarded first prize – a compendium of great chess games – because he had beaten Julian in their head-to-head encounter in round 4. The next three places were occupied by two redoubtable veterans, Robin Haldane and Peter Roche, and a rising talent, Constantin Liesch, all on 4.5/6, with a gaggle of strong players on 4/6 hard on their heels. Full results.

The event marked a superior degree of organisation. We made this an ECF-rated event as many players find value in monitoring their progress. We also collected a game fee (£5 members / £10 non-members, cash or card) towards the cost of renting the venue for which we used a credit card reader. The club’s projector was used to display each round’s pairings and rankings on the wall. The results were displayed in real time on Chess-Results for anybody who wants to follow the tournament.

Next week the club will stage a FischerRandom tournament, and future events in June and July will include a rapidplay, another blitz, a simultaneous display by FM David Maycock and a talk on “Principles of Attack” by FM Julian Way. Julian’s talk is free, but we are making a modest charge as above to participate in the tournaments and simul – to pay for the room and raise funds for the club. We hope this programme will form a template for future summers.

Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain