GM Harry Grieve finds Team Kingston a tough proposition
A few days before he played in the British championship, where he performed strongly and finished joint fourth, grandmaster Harry Grieve (who won the British as an FM in 2022) played against 26 members and friends of the Kingston club in a simultaneous display at the United Reformed Church in central Kingston, the club’s home. It turned out to be quite an evening.
Kingston partners with National Trust for weekend of chess
Kingston members spend a fascinating weekend playing chess with the public at beautiful Ham House, next to the River Thames in Petersham, Surrey The National Trust is evidently keen to offer more activities at its gorgeous historical properties. Thus it was that on the weekend of 8/9 August, a small group of Kingston Chess Club
Chess (modern and Viking) triumphs at Kingston’s annual Saxon Fayre
Chess featured prominently at this year’s Saxon Fayre where we had stalls in the middle of the Market Square and in the All Saints Church. Both stalls were fully occupied throughout the day as members of the public challenged our experts or just played amongst themselves. Our volunteers interacted with well over a hundred people who stopped by the stalls to chat or play. The event was held from 10:30 until 17:00 during a beautiful summer’s day with temperatures reaching 29°C.
Lin eases to victory in Kingston Blitz
Kingston junior William Lin, who last year won the British under-10 championship, enjoyed a smooth victory in the blitz tournament held at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, on 6 July. Across seven rounds, played at a time control of five minutes and three seconds, William scored an impressive 6.5/7.
Kingston A win fourth TVL title in a row
In the end Kingston A, under the inspired captaincy of Peter Large, won the Thames Valley division 1 title at a canter. It was Kingston’s fourth TVL title triumph in a row, underlining the fact that the past few years have been an unprecedented period of success for the club.
Kingston are London champions for second year in a row
Kingston again won the major prize at this year’s London Team Championships organised by the Southern Counties Chess Association. The Major tournament comprised six rounds for teams of four, constrained to a team average rating of 2100 or less. We were sporting a slightly diminished team compared to last year’s stars (Supratit Banerjee, Peter Lalić, Vladimir Li, John Bussmann), but Kingston secretary Alan Scrimgour did well to put together two teams, using his calculator for some fine tuning in team selection.