Kingston v Epsom, Alexander Cup semi-final 10-board match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 5 February 2025

Photographs from John Saunders

Match report from Kingston match captain John Foley

Kingston, the clear favourites, won the semi-final of the Alexander Cup, the Surrey team knockout championship, by a wide margin but were full of admiration for the youthful Epsom team. At one point during the evening, the balance of the match was evenly poised. The 8½–1½ result flatters Kingston because the games were much closer.

Remembering Stewart Reuben

The match started with a one-minute silence following the sad news of the death of Stewart Reuben, a stalwart of English chess and a resident of Twickenham. He was on a cruise when he died in Jamaica. Stewart played an enormous role in the development of British and then English chess. He introduced Swiss tournaments to the UK where previously all-play-alls were standard. He built relationships with sponsors and got City funding for several major tournaments. He professionalised the governance of chess as president of the British Chess Federation. He wrote the book on how to organise chess tournaments. He introduced the titles of Candidate Master, International Organiser and International Arbiter. Prior to arbiters, chess had “judges”.

Stewart was responsible for drafting many of the official Laws of Chess. As a small example, it was at his behest that the rules require players to write a “=” on the scoresheet whenever a draw offer is made. His contributions are too numerous to mention. He was a strong player in his own right and sparred with Bobby Fischer when he lived in New York in the early 1960s. Apart from his chess career, Stewart was a professional poker player. He wrote many books on both chess and poker. He did have his detractors, perhaps due to his tendency to dominate conversations and make his interlocutors feel somewhat inferior. On the other hand, he had a wealth of anecdotes with which he entertained colleagues during the evenings at chess events.

Board 4: Chris Wright (Epsom) v Mike Healey (Kingston)

The first game to finish was at 9pm when Mike Healey trapped the queen of Chris Wright, a former Kingstonian. Sometimes it is easier to capture an unsuspecting queen rather than a well-defended king. The full brevity may may be useful for instructional purposes.

The final position

Board 10: Alan Bates (Epsom) v David Rowson (Kingston)

As the match progressed, the game positions became harder to judge and the ratings advantage of Kingston seemed to count for naught. It was not until 10pm that the next result came from David Rowson. His opponent, Alan Bates, even though massively outrated, held the advantage for most of the game. Unfortunately, the game ended suddenly when Alan retreated his threatened knight to the wrong square.

The white knight under attack moved to the middle of the board 30. Ne4? but this lost to 30. Nd3 attacking the white queen whilst revealing an attack on the Ne4. White resigned immediately. The saving move would have been 30.Na6!, which goes against the usual advice that knights should not be placed on the edge of the board. However, the Na6 cannot be captured because White has counterplay, eg pin and win the black knight or else give the knight an escape on c7 with Qg3.

A quarter of an hour later came a flurry of results with Ash Stewart, Luca Buanne, Peter Andrews and Peter Lalić all winning and Will Taylor settling for a draw. Kingston had won the match.

Board 5: Ash Stewart (Kingston) v Marcus Gosling (Epsom)

Ash Stewart played White against Epsom team captain Marcus Gosling in a Classical Catalan and accurately built up the pressure. Marcus, a man of action not content with a defensive posture, boldly opened the position – unfortunately to his own detriment and soon Ash had doubled rooks on the seventh rank.

Here Marcus played 26…b4 forking the rook and knight. Ash gratefully grabbed the Bc7. Black had no further counterplay after capturing the knight on a3. I glanced at the board at this point and wondered if Black could give up the c7 bishop 26…Bxf4 prior to playing the b4 fork on the desperado principle. Although White still has the advantage, at least Black has an extra pawn compared to the game.

Board 9: Peter Andrews v Maya Keen

Peter Andrews essayed the English against Maya Keen who replied with the Agincourt Defence. Maya came out of the opening with a solid position but ambitiously sacrificed a knight and a bishop for a rook and a pawn – an exchange which is usually regarded as disadvantageous. Peter entered the endgame with his two bishops dominating Maya’s rook. Maya, with her mother sitting behind lending moral support, put up a good fight in the ending time scramble. Peter visibly suffers from nerves under time pressure but managed to steer the game to a successful conclusion. One interesting point about the game is that although the sacrifice was unsound, so was Peter’s reply.

After 18…Bxf2+, White played 19. Rxf2 automatically but should instead have played 19. Kh1! This quiet retreat wins a piece for two pawns because Black cannot save both the Ne4 and the Bf2. Peter expressed some embarrassment afterwards at missing this elementary tactic. It underlines the point that a won game is not exempt from error. Indeed, the dictum that one learns from one’s losses should be replaced by the dictum that one learns from all one’s games.

To Be Continued