Kingston B v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 18 May 2026

This, the last match of Kingston B’s TVL season, coincided with Kingston A playing Maidenhead A, also at home. As a result of the extra demand on the pool of players, and with some people unavailable for either team, I was grateful to Tom Mayers and Seth Warren for agreeing to play. Kingston B were already safe from relegation, but the match was crucial for Ealing A, who needed to win to avoid last place and the drop to Division 2.

Board 1 was one of two boards where the Kingston player’s opponent significantly outrated him. Not only that, but Peter Andrews with Black found himself confronting FM Andrew Harley’s expertise in the c3 (Alapin) line against his Sicilian Defence. Andrew has co-authored (with GM Eduardas Rozantalis) a book about this line, Play the 2.c3 Sicilian. Peter did well to find a move early on which, unbeknownst to him, had previously been played by a grandmaster to equalise. After the queens were exchanged, this position was reached:

Here Peter comments, “Black’s pawn weakness on the queenside is only notional. The two pawns and the black pieces hold the white majority, and the king is close enough to the queenside to be an extra defender.” His judgement was proved right a few moves later when, realising that he did not have serious chances of pushing for a win, Andrew Harley agreed to a draw. A good start for Kingston.

Not long after, I also agreed to a draw on board 2, in a position where I could perhaps have tried for more:

Black had just played 21…Qe6. The symmetrical pawn structure limits White’s chances of an advantage, but I did have the better bishop and could have played 22. Nd2, with the idea of repositioning it on c4. Black would have been forced to defend rather passively, though he could have played his pawn to h5 at some stage to try to take advantage of White’s weakened kingside pawn structure.  Anyway, all that was might-have-been after we shook hands.

The board 3 game in which John Foley had Black against Duncan Grassie began as a Trompowsky Attack. White gave up the two bishops by exchanging on f6, but in compensation doubled Black’s f-pawns. He then launched a queenside pawn storm, to which John responded by playing his knight to e4.

On board 4 Constantin Liesch, with White, faced the experienced Tony Wells. Exchanges resulted in this position after move 29, with equal material but a black pawn majority on the kingside countering White’s passed (but immobile) pawn on d4:

On board 5 Tom Mayers had opened with the King’s Indian Defence against Xavier Cowan (who plays for Ealing in the Thames Valley League when he isn’t playing for Kingston in the Surrey League). In this position, Tom came up with an effective blockading plan:

So, 3-2 to Kingston B, with one game to finish, that on board 6. Agnieszka Milewska played the Caro-Kann Defence and, perhaps unusually from this opening, both players castled queenside. The star of this game was Black’s queen’s rook, which moved from d8 to d5 to a5, targeting, with the back-up of the black queen, White’s pawn on a2. Seth defended this by playing his bishop to b1, but this boxed his king in on a1 and made his position quite uncomfortable, as the diagram below demonstrates.

Seth fought well, giving up the exchange for two pawns. He seemed to have equalised when the queens came off (Agnieszka having missed a one-move win as they both struggled with time trouble). However, Black’s remaining piece, the energetic rook, outmanoeuvred White’s sole bishop and Agnieszka gained the point to leave the match a 3-3 draw.

Unfortunately for Ealing, as their captain Andrew Harley remarked to me, a draw was not enough for them to avoid last place in the division and relegation to Division 2. The sad loss last October of the player who was their mainstay for many years, Alan Perkins, and the absence of several other strong players has meant that their teams have been significantly weaker this season.

What about Kingston B’s season? “They all said it couldn’t be done, a B team surviving in Division 1.” Well, maybe they didn’t, but when we lost close matches at Maidenhead and Ealing earlier this year I myself was pessimistic. However, thereafter our results were much better: played 6, won 3, drew 2, lost 1.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone (18 of you) who played for the B team this season. In terms of points scored, I would like to make special mention of Martyn Jones (6/6!), Stephen Lovell, Constantin Liesch and Homayoon Froogh. There were other players who may not have scored so highly, but who took on the challenge of facing the opposition’s top boards – Peter Andrews and Jasper Tambini in particular.

Thanks also to those who gave lifts to remote places (Maidenhead) – John Foley and Stephen Moss, and to those who stepped in at short notice to prevent a default: Seth Warren, Tom Mayers and Genc Tasbasi. Now I think we can all enjoy some satisfaction at our season’s outcome and a few months’ rest.

David Rowson is captain of Kingston B in Thames Valley division 1