The defaulting of three boards put paid to any hopes that Kingston might have had of repeating its recent triumph against Ashtead. Kingston is a club with limited complement of players and the situation is getting worse. At first, we thought that we were only going to default two boards. However, a burst tyre meant that Ken Inwood missed the cut-off time. This is somewhat ironic since Ken drives a van specialising in mobile tyre replacements.

Of the games that were played, the match was quite close with board one rendering the only decisive result. John Foley stepped up to board one in preference to David Rowson to reflect recent relative form. The turning point in the game came when John left the game to make a cup of tea. For those who collect tips on how to play better, this is the PG Tip: pay more attention to your opponent’s last move if you have just returned to the board with a cup of tea.

David Rowson seems to have missed a win before the game resolved down to an opposite bishops endgame. Julian Way was the exchange ahead, but Chris Howell defended well to secure the draw in a rook endgame played at speed. Chris Clegg played a solid draw with Ian Pheby.