Salim Kriman (Essex) v John Foley (Surrey)
The Surrey team of 16 comprised three Kingston players – Peter Andrews on board 1, John Foley on board 3 and Alan Scrimgour on board 5, all playing Black. It is fair to say that the Surrey second team has a solid contribution from Kingston. Essex is always a strong team and Surrey were fortunate to win by one match point.
Kingston C fall short at Surbiton despite Mistry mastery
Surbiton D v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 4 December 2024 Thames Valley Division X is meant to be a training division – something we took literally in this away match against Surbiton D. Nick Powell on board 4 was playing his first ever rated game –
Kingston 2 implode against Guildford 2
On the same night that Mark Sheridan slipped, fell and ended up in A&E, missing the match at Epsom, the Kingston 2 team did the same thing collectively (metaphorically speaking) against Guildford 2. There is no other word for our performance but debacle, and I would say the Kingston 2 captain’s place is now in serious jeopardy. (I would say that except the Kingston captain is me, so I will battle on.) This loss drags us into the Div 2 relegation mire and might even make us favourites for the drop. It was very ugly.
Kingston 4 edged out at Epsom after default
This was one of those unfortunate evenings that one prefers to forget. Mark Sheridan, who was due to play for the Kingston team, slipped, injured his leg and was in A&E when he should have been battling it out on board 6. Apologies to Epsom for the default.
Kingston 1 turn tables on Guildford to bolster title bid
To judge by the teams Guildford have been able to field this season, they will be close rivals in this season’s Surrey competitions. Kingston had a rating advantage on seven of the eight boards, but many of the differences were small and easily offset by the advantage of playing White. I was under too much pressure in my own game to see much of the others. Spectators reported a tense match, and in each of the games on boards 4 to 7 we had losing positions at one point. We eventually scored 2.5 points from those four games, so the final result gave a rather misleading impression of the course of the match.
Kingston B triumph at Hounslow
Kingston B made it 4/4 so far this season with a convincing 4.5-1.5 victory away to Hounslow B. The two young Hounslow players on the top boards did well to get draws against the experienced and highly rated pair of David Rowson and Alan Scrimgour, and Hounslow’s JJ Padam drew on board 4 with Jon Eckert, but the other three games were wins for Kingston.