Rated classical game played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston 13 October 2025

Photograph: Seth Warren (top right); Genc Tasbasi (bottom left)

Having moved to a new venue, the spacious Richard Mayo Centre at the United Reformed Church in Kingston, the club is able to provide people with the opportunity to play a rated game at a classical time control, 75 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment per move. Having more time on the clock should mean that one has more time to analyse the position. However, perhaps due to the rise of online chess at much faster time controls, not everyone takes full advantage of this opportunity.

This game was remarkable because Kingston player Seth Warren managed to obtain a draw from being a queen behind against Rohan Gadre. He said afterwards “I still don’t quite believe it! He was winning right until the very end”, describing the game as a swindle. Genc Tasbasi, who was playing next to Seth, enjoyed the encounter saying that his own game took longer because both he and his opponent were following Seth’s.

Seth was psychologically prepared to resign at two points in game, but his resilience and curiosity drove him to play one more move each time. Seth said afterwards “I was very surprised he didn’t just calmly recapture my pawn [on move 23] – it would’ve been far more practical. And again [on move 29] – shifting his rook along the sixth rank, I would’ve just resigned.” He added ” I think I managed to get to him a little; he was blitzing out his moves right up until the end when he realised it was drawn. He finished with about 55 minutes on the clock. Perhaps he should’ve used some of those spare minutes.”

This game is about the consequence of relaxing in a winning position, the need to use up all your time and the necessity of continuing to play precautionary moves.