Kingston 1 v Coulsdon (CCF) 1, Surrey League division 1, Willoughby Arms, Kingston, 27 February 2023
As John Foley says, playing rated games against very strong juniors is never easy. Banerjee was here playing on board 6 for Coulsdon 1 against Kingston 1 off a Surrey rating of 1667. His live ECF rating is actually 2029 (shouldn’t Surrey be recalibrating to match reality?), his Fide is close to 1900 and he is among the strongest players in the world in his age group – nine and under. Deploying his usual acute and accurate endgame skills, John won the game to help Kingston to a 7-1 victory (later adjusted to 5-2 because of a board order infringement), but he accepts that he may never do so again as young Banerjee ascends the chess ladder to titledom.
