Supersub Foley inspires CSC/Kingston 1 to dual wins as the team acclimatises itself to the heady heights of division 3
The unexpected elevation to division 3 of the 4NCL has not fazed CSC/Kingston 1, who won their third- and fourth-round matches at the weekend and are now eyeing another step up. It was a tremendous result after a week of uncertainty over who would actually be in the team at Daventry.
A few days before, the situation looked grim. Star player Peter Finn had Covid and another strong player had dropped out. All sorts of stopgaps were being considered, but would have been little more than sticking plasters given the strength of the league’s division 3, to which we were promoted at the end of 2022 when another team dropped out.
Happily, the fears did not materialise. Indeed it was a triumphant weekend for the team, who thumped Ashfield 1 5.5- -0.5 on Saturday (Ashfield recorded a minus score because they defaulted a board and were accordingly penalised) and then defeated Oxford 2 in a much closer match on Sunday.
The key to the success was that the talismanic Finn had recovered from Covid and pronounced himself fit to play, and Kingston president John Foley stepped in to replace the indisposed player. Foley admirably volunteered to cover the default on Saturday, so that his five team-mates all got games, and then won a long encounter on Sunday to secure a 4-2 victory.
The two wins leave the team on six points after four rounds – we were given one-point byes in the first two rounds, played before the promotion had been agreed. There are several sides which on paper are stronger than CSC/Kingston 1 and they have a head start because we missed the opening weekend, but after these two victories we are breathing down the necks of the leaders. Warwickshire Select 1 will be favourites, but at least we now have an opportunity to challenge for back-to-back promotions.
How would 11-year-old Kingston junior Jaden Mistry fare at the outdoor “Chess Arena” on the seafront in India’s bustling commercial metropolis?
Malcolm Mistry
Jaden Mistry (left) takes on Raju, his first opponent in Mumbai’s outdoor chess arena. Photograph: Malcolm Mistry
A recent holiday back home in our native city Mumbai was meant to be a relaxing Christmas break with family and friends. Little did I imagine the intended time off from my demanding work schedule, and a well-deserved pause for my 11-year-old son Jaden from doing his homework and playing league chess for Kingston, would have some surprises in store.
With an estimated population of 27 million, Mumbai is the second most populous city in India after the capital New Delhi. Located on the west coast of India overlooking the Arabian sea, Mumbai never sleeps: it is the epicentre of fashion, the commercial and entertainment capital of India, and home to both the mega-rich and the poor.
As in most parts of India, cricket is the sport that defines the city and unifies people across all social groups. Chess may not yet have the universal appeal of cricket, but it is catching up. Encouraged by a growing number of enthusiastic parents, schoolchildren now take chess seriously as a sport, aiming to emulate old heroes such as former world champion Viswanathan Anand (“Vishy”) and new stars such as Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (“Praggy”).
Both Vishy and Praggy hail from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and in part thanks to their achievements chess is most popular in the south. Club chess and coaching are increasing in Mumbai, though still not at the same pace as in the south of the country, but intriguingly one can also now often find chess being played in cafés, malls and workspaces.
An interesting open-air spot along the picturesque Arabian sea where I accidentally discovered street chess being played by young and old alike was on the promenade at Carter Road in Bandra, an up-market suburb of Mumbai. The promenade itself, a mile-long walkway along the Arabian sea, is popular with fitness enthusiasts and casual walkers. Carter Road is one of the most expensive areas in Mumbai, filled with cafés, street food stalls and fine-dining restaurants.
Strolling with Jaden on a pleasant Christmas Eve morning, we were intrigued by an array of marble tables and makeshift benches and chairs made from a mix of wood, stone, iron and steel at the northern end of the Carter Road promenade. We asked some locals about them, and were told that players and spectators were usually to be found in the evenings at the so-called “Chess Arena”, as well as occasionally in the mornings on weekends and holidays.
A kibitzers’ paradise: Onlookers loudly offer advice in a mix of languages. Photograph: Malcolm Mistry
A local resident who was himself a social chess player gave us some background on the arena. He said that, drawing inspiration from open-air chess in the parks of New York, two chess boards set in marble and stone were initially erected in 2009 by the Carter Road association, with help from the local council. Subsequent interest from visitors prompted the council to add another 14 boards, though the monsoon rains from June to September and the salty sea breeze have since corroded some of the metallic structures, reducing the number of playable chessboards to about a dozen.
Armed with this history of the Chess Arena on a promenade where I walked with my wife on our first date (on 26 May, 2007, to be precise), I couldn’t help but reflect on the positive changes that my childhood city had undergone in recent years. Encouraged by Jaden, who in a café not far away from the promenade was being told about his parents’ first date, our natural instinct was to try to play a quick morning game on one of the medieval-looking marble boards. To our disappointment, we discovered there were no pieces – and no players either. I promised Jaden we would come back in the evening with our own chess pieces.
For Jaden, the wait until evening was the longest in his two-week of holiday back home in India. When the time arrived, I don’t think I have ever seen him get ready more rapidly. Soon we arrived at the same spot as in the morning, and were pleasantly surprised to see five of the chessboards already occupied. These were serious chessplayers, though playing without clocks.
There were also a number of onlookers loudly offering advice in a mix of local (Marathi) and national (Hindi) languages. I was impressed by the focus of the players and their indifference to the banter. The post-mortems after the games were even more intriguing, with the spectators having memorised the moves better than some of the players, who generally did not keep score.
Sensing Jaden’s impatience, I approached one of the players, who had just won a close game, to see if he would play a game with my son. He agreed, and with twilight descending we moved to another chessboard nearer a streetlight. Jaden’s first Chess Arena opponent was called Raju, quite a common name in India. He said he was a frequent player at the arena and reckoned he was rated about 1500.
Raju asked Jaden in a strong south Indian accent if he was a newcomer to the arena. Jaden explained how he had got involved in club chess in a pub in Kingston, London. Jaden’s recently acquired southern English accent, accentuated by a tinge of an Italian accent left over from having spent the previous eight years in Italy, and his opponent’s south Indian accent meant each of them repeated the same sentence twice to ensure they understood each other. But the beauty of chess is that, as with mathematics, it has a language of its own. A few moves into the game, Jaden and Raju seemed to understand each other perfectly. So here we were, within no time, my son making his international street-chess debut in his birth city and opting for e4 as White.
A carnival of chess: The buzz and vibrancy of the arena will be lasting memories. Photograph: Malcolm Mistry
Faced with high-decibel traffic in this busy Mumbai suburb, and surrounded by curious and vocal onlookers, this was a spectacle Jaden had never encountered in the UK during his short chess career. He asked me if I had any earbuds to reduce the sound – not something I consider carrying in my pockets. Soon the focus of the onlookers at other boards shifted to Jaden’s game. The fact that he was by far the youngest player that evening encouraged the vocal chess engines to offer even more uninvited expert opinion. Raju politely reminded the spectators that their shadows falling on the board were dimming the already obscured streetlight.
The game lasted about 45 minutes and, after a rapid exchange of material towards the end, the players agreed a draw. The result drew applause from the spectators. One of them introduced himself as a chess player and coach, and invited me to visit his Facebook page, claiming to be a 1600 Fide-rated player and offering to coach Jaden. Raju later told me it was quite normal to be greeted by self-acclaimed chess trainers and experts, who might or might not have the credentials to coach.
As for Jaden, he appeared relieved to be off the mark in his international chess career. Inspired by his new-found confidence, he quickly made a New Year resolution to score his first points for the Kingston third team. Raju, perhaps sensing he had let an 11-year-old off with a draw, quickly asked Jaden for a rematch. The two of them ended up playing twice more, with honours even at the end of the evening – Jaden had won one, lost one and drawn one. Much to my amusement, our two hours at the Chess Arena had seen a succession of players and spectators observing and commenting on different boards in a variety of regional dialects, some of which I couldn’t fully comprehend myself.
We visited the Chess Arena a few more times during our stay in Mumbai. I lost count of the number of games Jaden played, but what is embedded in my memory – and perhaps in Jaden’s as well – are the buzz and vibrancy around the Chess Arena. In many ways, it felt nothing less than a carnival of street chess.
Surrey League division 1 match played at the Guildford Institute, Guildford on 9 January 2023
Guildford are the reigning champions in the Surrey League; Kingston, with no disrespect to several other strong sides, might be seen as their main rivals for this year’s division 1 title. So this encounter away at Guildford was always likely to have a crucial bearing on the fate of this year’s championship.
Both teams were very strong, with all 16 players involved rated above 2000, and the top boards contested by stellar talents. Alex Golding, one of the UK’s strongest young players, faced Kingston’s David Maycock on board 1, and got his team off to the best of possible starts with a win in what was the first game to finish.
Golding, with White, played the Glek Variation of the Four Knights (characterised by White’s early g3). Maycock turned what can be quite a stodgy opening into a much sharper position by playing d4 and following it up with a pawn sac that gave him attacking chances. But he used up far too much time on labyrinthine calculations – he admitted later that he “overthought” the position – trying to turn what was no more than +1 into something more decisive. Golding, playing good, pragmatic moves, was soon an hour ahead on the clock; David was playing on the increment and went wrong, dropping a piece and soon after the game.
On board 2, Peter Lalić was up against IM Nigel Povah. Peter chose his favoured Dunst Opening – it was a night for offbeat opening aficionados to savour on the top boards – and the first 16 moves were wild. But Povah, perhaps influenced by Golding’s win on board 1, then offered a draw, and Peter, who feared his opponent’s bishop pair, accepted. Still advantage Guildford.
Kingston immediately landed a counter-blow on board 3, where Vladimir Li, with the black pieces, defeated Roger Emerson in a powerfully played Queen’s Gambit Declined where he locked up the centre before storming through on the queenside. A magnificent game by Vladimir and a crucial riposte by Kingston, leaving the match all square.
Kingston’s Julian Way (in grey sweater) gets the better of Guildford captain Nigel White in the final game to finish
Kingston president John Foley’s dictum that the top boards are generally the last to finish proved not to be the case on this occasion. The top three boards were already done and dusted, but it was to be a good half hour before we had another result as the other five games were all nip and tuck.
The next result came on board 8, where Peter Andrews, playing the English, drew against James Toon. Two-all. Craig Young then restored Guildford’s advantage by beating Kingston captain David Rowson on board 5 in a game in which Rowson, essaying an Old Indian Defence which transposed into a King’s Indian, felt he was playing catch-up throughout. He never did quite catch up and Guildford were ahead 3-2.
We were, though, still very hopeful. Julian Way was material up against Guildford skipper Nigel White on board 6; Will Taylor certainly wasn’t worse against Clive Frostick on board 4 and indeed said later that he felt he had stood better and had a half-hour time advantage at one point; and on board 7, Alan Scrimgour, who had played his time-honoured Sicilian, had a small time advantage and marginally more mobile pieces in a rooks-and-knight endgame against Sebastian Galer. Had I been a betting man, I would probably have plumped for a 4-4 draw being the likely outcome at that point.
But it proved better than that for Kingston. In the Galer-Scrimgour game, the time advantage became crucial, with Galer starting to struggle to find good moves and eventually blundering to give Scrimgour a vital win. Now, for the first time in the match, Kingston held the advantage. A memorable victory suddenly looked possible.
With both players running short on time, Frostick and Taylor agreed a draw. That left the score tied at 3.5-3.5, with Way v White to decide the match. Theirs had been a complicated, well-contested game. Julian had countered White’s Sicilian Defence with the Moscow Attack and, after some strategic shuffling, the game reached this position:
White chose the right move, Nxe4, but used the wrong knight for the capture. The knight he chose, the one on the c-file, gave Way a significant plus, because it opens up the a3-f8 diagonal. Taking with the knight on f6 would have given Black (or in this case White as Black, if you get my drift) a slight advantage. The game proceeded: 23…Ncxe4 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Qb4 Nxg5 26.Nxc8+ Kg8 27.Ne7+ Kh8 28.Nc6 Qa8 29.Nxd8 Bxg2 30.Nxf7+ Nxf7 31.Qc3, and Way is left with several ways to win. The dangers of a mate on g2 are nullified by the immediate threat of a forced exchange of queens on the back rank.
The game continued for a few moves more, but Black’s (ie White’s) cause was hopeless. Way had played calmly to convert his advantage, oblivious to the spectators clustered around the board, and Kingston had won the match 4.5-3.5 to go top of the Surrey League division 1 table. Kingston last won the Surrey Trophy – the cup awarded to the winners of division 1 – in the 1974/75 season, and before that, for the only other time in its history, in 1931/32. Thus we have been division 1 champions just twice in the 140 years the Surrey League has been in existence. Is it too soon to dream that this could be the year of a historic third success?
CSC/Kingston 2 win on Saturday but lose on Sunday against very strong opposition to leave them joint third in the table after the first two 4NCL weekends
Even division 4 of the 4NCL can be very strong, as the new CSC/Kingston team discovered at the weekend. On Saturday, against the Gloucestershire-based club of Wotton Hall, we were outrated on every board but still managed a miraculous 4-2 victory, with wins for Maurice Lawson, Petr Vachtfeidl and Jon Eckert, and fighting draws on the top two boards by Daniel Sparkes and Peter Hasson against opponents rated 2200 or more. A tremendous performance by the team, ably marshalled as ever by Kate and Charlie Cooke.
On Sunday the opposition, Average Wood Pushers A, were even stronger. All their players were rated above 2000 and their average rating was 2099 – surely more than good enough for division 3, to which they look destined to win promotion. We were outgraded by an average of 270 points a board, and went down to an honourable 4.5-1.5 defeat, with another excellent win for Petr Vachtfeidl and a fine draw for Peter Hasson against another player rated 2200. Both Vachtfeidl and Hasson had memorable weekends.
On the other boards, Maurice Lawson fell foul of some neat tactics by Aidan Rawlinson; Max Selemir launched a bold attack that didn’t quite work out as his opponent mobilised his bishop pair to good effect; and Jon Eckert’s Grand Prix attack made little headway against Mitchell Burke’s expertly played Sicilian. But the prime idiot of the day was me, as I managed to resign against Yaoyao Zhu (rated 2056) in what I later discovered was a drawn position, as shown below.
It looks hopeless – at least I thought so. And, even though I had oodles of time, I didn’t bother to calculate or count the moves. It actually ends in forced stalemate: 47… Kb6 48. Ke5 Kc6 49. Kf6 Kd6 50. Kg7 Ke6 51. Kxh7 Kf7 52. Kh8 Kf8 53. h7 Kf7 1/2-1/2
I am so mortified I have had to share this Réti-ish position with the world immediately as a sort of catharsis. Don’t trust your eyes; trust your brain! Calculate, calculate, calculate. Or as Tartakower might have said: “No one ever drew a game by resigning.” I am utterly furious with myself. Bang goes the prospect of sleep tonight. What a desperately painful game chess is.
So a good weekend for CSC/Kingston 2, but a very bad weekend for me. Maybe it really is time to retire!
Surrey League division 4 match played at the Adelaide, Teddington on 2 January 2023
It is the season of colds, and Kingston 3 have suffered more than most. First the captain Stephen Daines went down with bronchitis, and then his replacement Greg Heath fell ill too, so full marks to the team and to stand-in captain Adam Nakar for getting six players to the Adelaide so soon after New Year and putting in an excellent performance against a Richmond team which not only had a huge rating advantage but also a certain P Lalić on board one. An FM-strength player in Division 4 of the Surrey League! As Kingston president John Foley quipped when he heard the news that Peter was playing, “Miss, why is that big boy in our playground?”
The big boy did indeed do the business, his tactical trickery proving too much for Nakar – there was, after all, a 600-point rating difference between the two! Peter is making a point this season of playing for different clubs in all four divisions of the Surrey League. Not something, I suspect, anyone has ever done before. Or is ever likely to do again. Peter is, in every sense, sui generis. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. He adds to the gaiety and the glory of chess, and makes all our lives more fulfilled. Adam may of course beg to differ until the pain of this defeat recedes.
Elsewhere, there was a fine win for Sean Tay, new to competitive over-the-board chess and with a provisional ECF rating now approaching 2000. This is based on very few games and almost certainly inflated, but Sean is a terrific addition to the club, not least because he has experience of running junior chess clubs. If we ever get our act together and set up our own junior section, Sean’s input could be invaluable.
David Shalom drew against the very promising Richmond teenager Otto Weidner on board two. David has returned to OTB chess for Kingston this season and is really proving his value. Hayden Holden and Shaurya Handu, two equally promising Kingston youngsters, went down to fighting defeats on boards four and five, but 11-year-old Jaden Mistry scored his first half-point for Kingston on board six as Richmond ran out 4-2 winners.
Jaden was actually rather disappointed by the result, because he let his opponent off the hook twice. He was totally won in the middle game, but failed to press home his advantage, trading off pieces (not always a good idea even when you are material up) when he could have won on the spot. Even after all the trades, he still had a winning endgame, but then went wrong in the position below:
Here, Jaden faced two main choices: 38. f5+ and g5. One is immediately winning; the other draws (though could also be losing if Black was alert to all the possibilities). Unfortunately for Jaden, he chose incorrectly and the game proceeded: 38. f5+ exf5 39. gxf5+ Kg5 40. h7 a2 41. Bxh6+ Kxf5 42. h8=Q a1= Q+ 1/2-1/2. Black’s queen is able to force draw by perpetual check with the poor old White queen unable to land a blow. 38. g5 would have been instantly winning because, whether or not Black takes the g-pawn, it allows White’s bishop to guard the queening square of a1, and the White h-pawn will eventually be able to queen alone.
But it could have been even worse for Jaden. As Kingston’s Vladimir Li pointed out when he saw the position, 39… Kf7! would win for Black. The misplaced bishop is now blocked and Black’s a-pawn can stroll home, while the Black king can mop up White’s h-pawn if it dares to advance. Losing would have been very hard to bear for Jaden after everything that had gone before. It just shows what can go wrong in a “won” position. As the Dutch grandmaster and noted aphorist Hein Donner said: “Give me a difficult positional game, I will play it. But totally won positions, I cannot stand them!”
Jaden was a little downhearted at only drawing, but at Kingston we encourage young players to treat each match they play in as a training exercise: “take the positives”, in that time-honoured sporting cliché; try to learn one solid lesson from each game you play – I suggested to Jaden that this was an example of a position where you should beware plausible moves, always digging deeper and rechecking your calculations; and don’t beat yourself up about the result or lose sleep over it.
In the end, it was a draw against a player rated 400 points higher. Despite the swindle, we’ll take that. And, given Vladimir’s observation, the final twist was a kind of counter-swindle by White. A remarkable game that Jaden will remember for a long time and which will give him much food for thought as his chess career develops.
The Czech super-grandmaster’s games collection doubles as a memoir and is full of humour, passion, wisdom, raw honesty and an unquenchable love for chess
Michael Healey
David Navara has always been one of my favourite players amongst the elite, but I’ve never really understood why. Are his games really that interesting? Is he actually a thoughtful character? A super-nice guy? A calculation machine? A true chess artist? Turns out – yep!
My Chess World really is a most charming book, as the Roman poets would say – except that at 616 pages it’s not exactly brief. In fact due to its weight this became a bedside book, where I would read a chapter or two a night (a couple of games) stretching through 64 (of course!) games. Before nearly every game is an article about his experiences as a professional chess player.
David Navara (source: Wikipedia)
The dominant theme is Navara’s unstoppable love for chess, through ups and downs (even finishing up with a “Chess Poem”). Every page resounds with passion and strain, humour and wisdom. Despite this chess addiction, he finds time to read books (“I normally take three times as many books to a tournament as I manage to read”), partake in philosophy and art criticism, spend six years at university, follow Christianity and even have a girlfriend (on page 568 – by which time the reader has sadly already fallen in love). He also likes to take note of everything around him and find amusement everywhere.
The book is filled with stories and gossip, opinions and jokes, and one particularly surreal photo of himself with a large fish. He even has the occasional hilarious adventure, walking about between games. It may help that we seem to share a sense of deadpan humour, which of course can be a big hit-or-miss with chess books (and people.)
Navara is immensely courteous, making excuses for opponents, complimenting them, pointing out other instances when he was on the receiving end or how they proceeded to outscore him in the tournament. Before a game from his match against Nakamura, he writes about “UNPLEASANT OPPONENTS”. Is Navara about to unleash? No, he explains that certain players’ styles he finds hard to play against. The rudest he gets is a slight argument with someone who steals his seat on a plane, and remarking he has possibly heard one of Nigel Short’s stories before.
Harsh criticism is saved for himself. Games are filled with comments on things he missed, or ways he was lucky, or how computer ideas are beyond the mind of a mere 2700(!). One senses the mischievous wit of Tal, proclaiming himself the youngest ex-world champion, when Navara notes he has probably lost more chess matches than any other player (local sponsorship often invited strong players for mini-matches, which tend to go badly for him). However, he seems justifiably proud of certain stellar individual results, and team results are a source of great joy. There are moments which seem incredibly raw, and one particularly sorry comment that he used to have more supporters in the past. Everything is so honest it is impossible not to join in the emotional journey.
The self-deprecating bulk of the book comes under the title “Blog past its sell-by date”. This may be the secret of what makes this book so impressive. Navara clearly took his blog very seriously, investing time immediately after games to analyse and give his thoughts, sometimes to the detriment of the following day’s games. Through the various editions and translations, despite myriad lines I found very few errata. He gives move times, tournament placings (pre-game, post-game and final), team scores and podium scores. All this provides far more context (and interest) than your normal game collection.
Nevertheless all this would be fairly pointless if the games weren’t up to much. The 64 games chosen are obviously overwhelmingly interesting, although as Navara explains:
Substantial games are interesting
Substantial games require extensive annotations
Extensive annotations are boring
The Navara calling card is this king march, a superb concept coming from computer preparation and practical skill.
Here Carlsen is put on the back foot with White, coming up with a clever rejoinder.
Invited for a match in China against whizz-kid Wei Yi, Navara uses a Queen sacrifice to unbalance the position.
The powerful usage (and discarding) of a queen recurs in several games, both for himself and his opponent. Sometimes Navara neglects development and defers castling. He seeks out unbalanced positions, but often with not kings at stake but better coordination of pieces. Chaos – but more treading water amidst a tsunami than running to escape a volcanic eruption. It’s never that obvious what the end goal is or what we’re avoiding, just that it’s all completely bewildering hard work. A number of games finish in unusual rook endgames, which can become remarkably engaging, even for philistines like me.
Here are two games which felt particularly joyful. The first, against Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran, appealed to me instantly because Navara randomly picks up an opening I play and finds ideas I’d never considered – and of course there are the tripled pawns! Drama explodes from a “level” position, but is tamed by piece coordination, accurate choices and a very cute finish.
Here the future world championship challenger, Ian Nepomniachtchi, contributes to a wonderfully unorthodox game, where Navara has to keep an eye out for perpetuals, fortresses and … blunders!
I would thoroughly recommend this book to chess lovers. If you end up falling in love with Navara as well, that’s just the cost.
Kingston members outline what they plan to do differently next year
David Rowson: I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Why spoil the fun of New Year’s Eve by thinking of all the tasks before you? Instead, I make lists of things I need to do at random times throughout the year. The chess ones begin with “Learn how to play some openings properly”. So my resolution list for 2023 is:
Learn a decent defence to 1. d4, instead of, when faced by this at the board, spending a couple of minutes regretting I still haven’t done this, thinking I no longer believe in the Old Indian Defence, and then playing it anyway.
Learn how to defend against the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation and the Scotch etc, etc, instead of improvising half the time.
Study the endgame (rather vague, and an old chestnut, but I’m sure it’s true).
Greatly reduce the number of five-minute Lichess games I play and find something online that improves my play instead.
As captain of Kingston’s first team, help our excellent squad to fulfil their potential by winning everything we can (ie the Surrey League and Thames Valley division 1 – it’s going to be tough, but we have the players to do it).
First-team captain David Rowson: Plans to work on his openings, study the endgame and play less online blitz
Peter Lalić: I will quit 1. h3. I will play faster. I will continue to study zero endgames. I will win more games in the opening. I will become a Fide master.
David Maycock: Play faster and improve in calculation.
Peter Andrews: Bit late in my career to make many changes, but after seeing some scary tracking exploits I plan to use different openings when playing online – to put those wishing to prepare for games with me off the scent.
Stephen Moss: Naturally I will stop playing the hopelessly passive Nf6 Scandinavian. I started playing it about a decade ago and got hooked because some of my opponents tried to hold on to the d-pawn with c5. I found gambiting a pawn on c6 then gave Black a very nice attacking game and chalked up some easy wins. Unfortunately, very few players do try to defend the d-pawn. Most sensibly choose to build up a space advantage and enjoy a very pleasant game while I grovel. Peter Lalić tells me I play it wrong and should never put the knight, when chased from d5, on b6, where it can get marooned. He recommends the Portuguese Gambit, and I might give that a go, but I’m tempted to junk the Scandinavian and learn the Sicilian. Nigel Short once put me off trying to digest all the theory in the Sicilian, calling it “an ocean” and implying I would drown. But, given how tedious and grovelly my Scandinavian games are, I feel it’s either that or give up chess completely.
Julian Way: My resolution is to build an all-purpose repertoire against the Sicilian Defence. I’m even thinking of writing a little book about it.
Julian Way: Aiming to develop an all-purpose repertoire against the Sicilian and pass on the secrets in a book
John Foley: I don’t have New Year resolutions. Alone amongst chess players I am not interested in improving my rating. I am content to put up a decent struggle against strong players and occasionally win a nice game. My chess ambitions are focused on chess education.
Gregor Smith: As a seasoned member of the Failed by Third Week in January Club, I am no stranger to setting unrealistic goals, and here are my usual three annual intentions, which are no doubt destined for failure again:
Lose weight: I need to trim the fat. Not only from around the waistline, but I need to trim the fat from my opening repertoire. Calorific delights such as the Danish and Scotch gambits need to be banished, and replaced by lean efficiencies of the Italian and Spanish variety. I think I’ll still allow myself to indulge in some Smith-Morra on a cheat day however.
Read more books: Far from a bookworm, this is always a challenging one, and I must admit I’m still stuck on chapter 6 of Stephen Moss’s The Rookie having started last January – not a slight on the author, but a reader incapable of swapping his phone for a paperback. Next year, I think I’ll try a Chessable course.
Get more sleep: This involves not playing endless hours of 3+2 into the early hours. I want to channel that time before sleep into something that isn’t sending my mind into overdrive. I’ll maybe try 10+2 instead.
Mike Healey: As brain cells swiftly disappear, to find some openings which try to mask the decline.
Mike Healey: Ever self-deprecating, Mike says he will look for openings that allow for his disappearing brain cells
Nick Grey: Play more Fide-rated games. Move quickly in known-to-me theory. Slow down when necessary and rely on tactics. Learn two new Black openings. Learn one new White opening. Volunteer to be reserve for Kingston teams. Allow plenty of time and arrive early. When not playing chess, talk more.
Jaden Mistry (aged 11): My chess resolution in 2023 is to improve my focus in the longer format of the game. My father, who taught me chess, always reminds me that I play as if I might miss my bus. That also means he gets little time to enjoy his Guinness at the Willoughby Arms. I therefore aim to develop my patience and focus more on the classical format, instead of the rapid and blitz that I started off with as a newbie. Since the league matches often end late in the evening, I also intend to work on my mental stamina to remain alert, and to improve my endgames. I am eager to get my first win for the club in January 2023, and subsequently perform consistently in order to improve our club’s record in third-team fixtures.
Stephen Daines: I’d like to get to 1700 by the end of 2023. I’ve come back to competitive chess after a 44-year break, and feel I’m getting back to my old form.
Mark Sheridan: I intend to study some endgames and learn more about them, because I currently know zilch. My plan is to read the highly recommended books by Averbakh and Silman.
Will Taylor: My main resolution for 2023 is to get into time trouble less, though I do make the same resolution every year. I’m also going to pretend I’m rated 200 points higher than I really am to make my approach more ambitious against players who are higher rated than I actually am.
Will Taylor: Vows to get into time trouble less in 2023, but admits he makes the same resolution every year
Max Mikardo-Greaves: I’m hoping to boost my rating by a hundred points – it’s about 1300 at the moment – by analysing games, learning Queen’s Gambit as White and the French Defence as Black.
Ian Mason: I need to do my chess homework more regularly for the Killer Chess Academy. The aim is always to improve, even though getting up to 2000 is now well above my expectations.
Sean Tay: Find time to study more chess openings and try to improve my middle- and endgames. Play more league games and achieve a rating of 1600.
Vladimir Li: I will return to Fide-rated tournaments and hope to get the FM title.
Josh Lea: My resolution in 2023 is to take part in an actual, official chess game and get a rating. Once I’ve played 10 games I should have some idea of how strong I actually am.
Ohhun Kwon: I’ve returned to chess in my late twenties after a decade away, and I want to rediscover the passion for the game I had as a teenager. I’m wary of setting quantifiable goals because I know I just want to enjoy the game, but I would also like to start playing competitive games and climb up the ratings. I played at school and did well, but when I started university I lost touch with chess. Now I intend to start taking it seriously again and play some matches for the club.
Test your knowledge of chess with our festive quiz. We had a quiz night at the club on 19 December and the winning team got 12/20. See if you can do better. Answers at the bottom. No cheating!
Forty-two years ago, Garry Kasparov won the world junior chess championship ahead of several players with bright futures ahead of them. Which of the following players finished in second place?
(a) Silvio Danailov, future manager of Veselin Topalov (b) Nigel Short, future world championship challenger (c) Yasser Seirawan, future US chess champion (d) Ken Rogoff, future Harvard economist
During his brief career, Paul Morphy defeated all of the following chess greats one after the other EXCEPT:
(a) Adolf Andersson (b) Louis Paulsen (c) Jules Arnous de Rivière (d) Howard Staunton
Which of these is the REAL title of a published book?
(a) Disney’s Chess Guide by Anatoly Karpov (b) Fail at Chess with Putin by Garry Kasparov (c) Vegetarian Chess by Viswanathan Anand (d) Howling at the Moon by Vassily Ivanchuk
Which of the following grandmasters is the only one to have NOT won both the World junior chess championship and the world chess championship?
(a) Boris Spassky (b) Viktor Korchnoi (c) Garry Kasparov (d) Viswanathan Anand
The Elo rating system was featured in the plot of which of the following Oscar-nominated films?
(a) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (b) The King’s Speech (c) The Social Network (d) Parasite
The Fide logo is:
(a) A red-and-black chessboard surrounded by Olympic rings (b) A black-and-white chequered hexagon (c) A white knight on an oval black or blue globe (d) A black king in front of a blue or white shield
This chess-related item sold for $150,000 in a September 2009 auction:
(a) The chess set used in the film The Seventh Seal (b) A scoresheet signed by Kasparov and Karpov from an exhibition match in Spain. (c) The original manuscript for Aron Nimzowitsch’s My System (d) A copy of Wilhelm Steinitz’s will
In which of these chess variants would you try to lose all your pieces?
In April 2011, Viswanathan Anand achieved something that has happened to only five world champions. He:
(a) Won a Chess Oscar (b) Lost a classical game in under 20 moves (c) Achieved a positive head-to-head record against all his previous match opponents (d) Became a father
True or false: It is a Fide rule that the king must be taller than every other piece.
(a) True (b) False
Which of these was NOT an official rule for the 2008 Anand-Kramnik world championship match?
(a) The arbiter declares a time forfeiture (b) A player will be forfeited if he makes multiple illegal moves in a game (c) The players must recite the FIDE pledge at the opening ceremony (d) The players do not have to write down moves
Complete this quote from Capablanca in his book A Primer of Chess: A time limit of “between 20 and 30 moves per hour is …”
(a) “Suitable only for beginners” (b) “A fairly slow speed” (c) “Much too fast for proper study” (d) “The correct pace for correct chess”
In a 1992 tournament, GM Lev Psakhis accomplished something that has never been equalled:
(a) He defeated all four semi-finalists of the Candidates tournament (b) He defeated both Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov (c) He defeated all three Polgár sisters (d) He played 1052 moves over nine rounds
In 2015, this player was caught using a smartphone hidden in the player-only bathrooms to cheat against Armenian grandmaster Tigran Petrosian at the Dubai Open:
In July 2015 the Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Magnus Carlsen had:
(a) Signed for Real Madrid (b) earned $6.6 million in the first half of the decade (c) received 493 marriage proposals (d) met all three Kardashian sisters
When was the first official Fide ratings system introduced?
(a) 1966 (b) 1974 (c) 1971 (d) 1972
What is greatest in number?
(a) All atoms in the universe (b) Possible games of chess (c) Stars in the Milky Way (d) People on the planet
Which former Soviet player once got into a drunken fight over a woman at a bar in Havana, and missed the first five rounds of the 1966 Chess Olympiad because of his injuries. He was:
(a) Mikhail Tal (b) Vasily Smyslov (c) Viktor Korchnoi (d) Boris Spassky
What was Magnus Carlsen’s FIDE rating at 11 years old?
(a) 1645 (b) 2536 (c) 900 (d) 2127
During this well-known world championship match, a blueberry yoghurt delivered to one of the players became a controversial point of contention.
(a) Karpov v Kasparov, 1984 (b) Kasparov v Short, 1993 (c) Topalov v Kramnik, 1995 (d) Karpov v Korchnoi, 1978
ANSWERS
(b) Nigel Short
(d) Howard Staunton. In 1858 Morphy travelled to the UK to play Staunton, but Staunton kept delaying the match and it never took place
(a) Disney’s Chess Guide by Anatoly Karpov
(b) Viktor Korchnoi
(c) The Social Network. In one scene in the film, Eduardo Saverin shows Mark Zuckerberg “the algorithm used to rank chess players”
(c) A white knight on an oval black or blue globe
(a) The chess set used in the film The Seventh Seal
(c) Antichess, also known as “losing chess” and “suicide chess”
(d) Became a father. On 9 April 2011, Anand and his wife Aruna’s first child was born, a son named Akhil
(b) False. The Fide Handbook says only that the king should be about 3.75 inches tall, and the other pieces “should be proportionate in their height and form”
(c) The players must recite the Fide pledge at the opening ceremony. At the time there was no such thing as a Fide opening pledge, and, even when there was, no one has ever been forced to recite it
(b) “A fairly slow speed”
(c) He defeated all three Polgar sisters. During a 1992 tournament in Aruba, Psakhis beat Judit Polgár with White in round five, Susan Polgár with Black in round eight, and Sofia Polgár with White in round nine
(b) Gaioz Nigalidze, who received a three-year ban and had to forfeit his grandmaster title following an investigation
(b) Earned $6.6 million in the first half of the decade, more than any other chess player over that period
(c) 1971
(b) Possible games of chess
(a) Mikhail Tal, who was notorious for his affinity with alcohol. Tal and Korchnoi were reportedly in a bar when the former was hit over the head with a bottle by the jealous boyfriend of a woman Tal was dancing with
(d) 2127
(d) Karpov v Korchnoi, 1978. After the yoghurt was delivered to Karpov, Korchnoi’s camp alleged that the flavour of the yoghurt (blueberry) was a secret signal from Karpov’s seconds
Coulsdon cancel key Surrey League division 1 match because of snow
Both the matches due to be played at the Willoughby Arms on Monday 12 December were cancelled. Overnight snow led CCF (Coulsdon) to pull out of the crunch Surrey League division 1 match against Kingston’s first team. We were very disappointed by the abandonment as this is likely to give us yet another fixture to cram into the very crowded second half of the season. Richmond also pulled out of their scheduled Thames Valley div X match with Kingston’s third team and took a default – a great shame as these matches are valuable training games for new players. A disappointing end to the playing year, but 2022 has been very kind to Kingston and we fervently hope for more of the same in 2023. Happy Christmas and a fruitful New Year to all our members, friends and friendly rivals.
Kent Under-2050 v Surrey Under-2050, 15 October 2022
Encouraged by John Foley to turn out for Surrey’s under-2050 team, this was Kingston stalwart Peter Andrews’ first county match for about 40 years. He was playing on board 1 against Kent’s David Clear, and the game hinged on Peter’s disaster with an extremely hot cup of coffee. Always beware the Coffee Gambit!
