Match report by John Foley

The match between South Norwood and Kingston was always going to be tough. The final result was 3.5-3.5 with one game for adjudication which is probably lost. The result means that Kingston failed to gain top position in the Second Division and must postpone its hopes of returning the the premier league of Surrey Chess. The match was rescheduled from December when it had been postponed due to snow.

As expected, Kingston had strength in depth and scored well on the lower boards but not so well on the top boards. The match result can be seen here South Norwood v Kingston

The absence of three regular first team players was a significant factor, but on the other hand, Kingston is delighted to have been joined by two new players: Stephen Lovell and Matthew Baker. Stephen shows a lot of talent for someone who played chess many years ago at Cambridge and has never played regularly. Matthew last played for Kingston 13 years ago and is a welcome returnee to the club.

As to the match itself, as team captain I take full responsibility for the result by failing on several occasions to win my won game – even offering a draw in a won position.

John Foley v Tariq Oozeerally
Queen’s Indian Game: Yusupov-Rubinstein System
ECO A46

One learns something every game. There were a few beautiful checkmates – but black had a defence to all of them. The trick was to switch to an attack on the queen and clean up. Seven minutes on the clock should have been enough even though there were still four moves to make the time control. Of course, looked at in retrospect in cool light of day it is obvious but at the time one doesn’t always think straight.