5th Kingston Invitational: Round 6 (20 August 2026)

Round six of the 5th Kingston Invitational finally delivered the pairing that we wanted to see involving the highest rated player and the tournament leader: the two Daniels, Gormally and Johnson. The Swedish player was able to draw with Black against the grandmaster and now shares the lead on 5/6 with Henry Adams who beat Jack Rudd. By the end of the round, five players were in the next score group with 4½/6: Danny Gormally, Thomas Villiers, Adam Taylor, Graeme Buckley and Peter Finn.

The two Daniels go head to head: Gormally vs Johnson. The result was a 17-move draw.

Gormally-Johnson started with a Catalan, of which we have seen quite a number this week. It proceeded sedately but seemed on the verge of getting interesting when Black played 17...Be3, which seemed to force a position where Black would have the slight advantage of the two bishops. However, as I watched this on LiChess, it was shortly followed by the appearance of ½-½ on the computer screen. So Daniel Johnson retains his place at the top of the leader board, although he could be caught if one or both of the next two boards ends in a decisive result. This was the first of the top boards to finish, just short of two hours into the round. Gormally-Johnson (LiChess)

Henry Adams now shares the lead with Daniel Johnson

Henry Adams overcame Jack Rudd to share the lead with Daniel Johnson

A decisive result duly followed when Henry Adams defeated Jack Rudd to share first place with Daniel Johnson. Adams was White, opening 1 d4, to which Rudd replied with the Wade Defence (1...d6 2 Nf3 Bg4). After some exchanges the position became reminiscent of a line in the Caro-Kann. It all looked fairly innocuous, although Stockfish, installed in the Chess Match Special commentary box, later castigated a whole raft of middlegame moves by both players, reminding me of the way the celebrated but grumpy cricket commentator Fred Trueman used to express his disbelief at the incompetence of a younger generation of players with his catchphrase "I dunno wha's goin' off out there!" Being of a slightly more merciful nature and (more to the point) not able to understand the full scope of Stockfish's assessments, I shall draw a veil over most of them. Suffice to say that Black may have regretted playing 19...Nd5 as things became decidedly problematic when White attacked it with 20 c4 when he would have been at the mercy of White's handily-placed rook on d3. And to think that the curmudgeonly Stockfish gave 19 Rd3 a ?! - I would award it an unqualified exclamation mark. Ditto, 21 Qf3 which looks an excellent move to the human eye. Faced with a tactical vice, Rudd was obliged to surrender a knight for two pawns but never looked like saving the game thereafter. A very well played game by Henry Adams. Adams-Rudd (LiChess)

Adam Taylor ran short of time but still held the draw with Thomas Villiers. Both now have 4½/6.

Around the time the two Daniels were drawing their game, the late-arriving Adam Taylor was down to his last 12 minutes with Black against Thomas Villiers on board two, with White still having 80+ minutes at his disposal. But it didn't prove to be a problem for Taylor, even when his time dwindled down to a minute or so and he was able to draw in reasonable comfort on the board. Villiers-Taylor (LiChess)

Graeme Buckley exchanged heavy blows with Peter Sowray

Graeme Buckley vs Peter Sowray opened with a good, old-fashioned Ruy Lopez, or Spanish Opening if you prefer the more modern nomenclature: a welcome relief after an unappetising diet of queenside fianchettos, etc. It was textbook stuff, with White preserving his slight edge, until Black tried a tactical pawn capture to resolve the situation on the queenside. White's answer was to treat it as a pawn sacrifice and turn his attention to ramping up his kingside play. Suddenly it got complicated. All too predictably, nasty old Stockfish cast aspersions on some of the play, but in human terms it was clear enough as White smashed his way through the black defences. That said, it did look as though Black might have done better to try 29...Nxf1 which would have been the natural move to play as well as Stockfish's first choice, though there was still plenty of ways for Black to go wrong. Instead Black went astray with 29...Qc4 after which he didn't get a look-in. Buckley-Sowray (LiChess)

Peter Finn found a powerful way to invade Aayush Wadhwa's position

Peter Finn vs Aayush Wadhwa followed a lot of contemporary QP theory for about 16 moves, which, judging from the results found in LiChess's database, leads inexorably to a draw. Not the case here, however: Black's subsequent play started to look a little passive until he made a serious error trying to drive away an annoyingly well-placed knight with 22...f6. White replied with the excellent 23 Qe7! invading the black camp to devastating effect. Actually, make that 23 Qe7!! - I just looked at it again and enjoyed the line that goes 23...fxe6 24 Rxc7 Rf7 25 Qxe6! etc. The shock led to a further inaccuracy by Black, allowing a quick finish. Finn-Wadhwa (LiChess)

Round 6 Results (chess-results)

Round 6 Games (LiChess)

5th Kingston Invitational: Round 5 (19 August 2026)

 As the middle round of the 5th Kingston Invitational got underway, the leader was Daniel Johnson (Sweden) with a perfect 4/4, followed by Danny Gormally, Henry Adams and Mikhail Sedykh on 3½ and another ten players a half-point further back on 3 points.

Daniel Johnson and Henry Adams awarded themselves the afternoon off with a steady draw

The top board pairings were Johnson v Adams and Sedykh v Gormally. On board one where Daniel Johnson and Henry Adams were only separated by 20 rating points apart, the game started with a cagey line of the Catalan which elite players sometimes resort to when they play each other and fancy an afternoon off. The queens exited the board on move 8 as did a fair bit of other material. The game petered out to a draw on move 23, taking Johnson to 4½/5. Johnson-Adams game.

Danny Gormally couldn't make his higher rating tell against Mikhail Sedykh

With a rating differential of 200+ it might have been expected for Gormally to try for the full point against Sedykh in order to tie with Johnson for lead. He opted to defend a line of the Nimzo-Indian which was enough to equalise but proved not to be enough to secure a realistic chance of winning. After further exchanges the position reached was a level rook and pawns endgame and draw agreed on move 35. A good result for Sedykh who played very solidly.  Sedykh-Gormally game.

Adam Taylor's steady pressure induced a blunder from Bob Eames

With draws occurring on the top boards, Johnson maintained the sole lead but now there are seven players in the next score as a result of four decisive results on the next few boards. Adam Taylor, playing White versus Bob Eames, nursed a solid plus into the middlegame and was rewarded by a blunder from his opponent allowing a simple transition into a position with two minor pieces against a rook. After that, accurate chess was enough to win the game. Taylor-Eames game.

Jack Rudd's expert handling of a rook and two bishops clinched victory over Arya Cont

Jack Rudd vs Arya Cont was a Grünfeld which became a little complicated around move 15 but settled down after both players were understandably unable to find some abstruse moves advocated by the analysis engine. Though material was much reduced, White's possession of the two bishops became a key factor. Black committed a couple of inaccuracies which left his king under threat from White's remaining rook and bishops, followed by a more serious error which the West Country IM expertly exploited. Rudd-Cont game.

Thomas Villiers' sacrificial play was courageous and successful...

... but Alistair Hill had one fleeting chance of glory in this hugely entertaining game.

The game between Alistair Hill and Thomas Villiers proceeded in fairly orthodox fashion for about 14 moves but suddenly exploded into life from the moment Hill, playing White, sacrificed the exchange and a pawn with 15 a3. A few moves later Villiers decided to spice things up by a counter-sacrifice of a rook - or was it two rooks? Soon it was complete bedlam on the board and I won't pretend I can understand the half of it. Eventually the queens came off and the position came down to an endgame where White had bishop and two pawns against Black's seven pawns. Yes, you read that right - seven pawns. Not the sort of material imbalance you see every day. 

As you might expect from the foregoing description, the lonely cleric was no match for the horde of pawns which confronted it and Black finally triumphed. But it turns out that White, with just 2 minutes 35 seconds left on his clock, missed an astonishing opportunity to turn the tables by placing both of his remaining pawns en prise with a view to one of them sneaking through to become a queen. Now I've given you a big clue you should be able to find the right move on the diagram below - but can you analyse it all the way through to a win? I know I can't. That said, I might have punted it anyway on the grounds that everything else looks hopeless.

White to play and win

Even with a lone queen against seven pawns (the bishop has to be jettisoned somewhere along the line), it would still have been no small task for White to round up Black's seven pawns - three connected passers on the kingside and a menacing phalanx of four pawns (three of which might have been tripled!) advancing down the queenside. It would have been next to impossible to calculate given the time White had left - or indeed 30 minutes or so - but it would have wonderful to behold. 

It was a great game anyway: I salute both players for their courage and ingenuity which provided me with rich entertainment. Be sure to play through this game on LiChess.

Sanjit Selva Kumar lost to Alfie Onslow.

Sanjit Selva Kumar v Alfie Onslow opened with a Nimzo-Indian which White transformed into something a bit off the wall, particularly after he developed his dark-squared bishop on b2. Not something you see every day in a Nimzo, and it left White's kingside dark squares very weak. There seems to be an epidemic of early queenside fianchettoing in this tournament. Onslow soon took advantage of the open diagonals to clinch the point and join the squad of players half a point behind the leader. Kumar-Onslow game.

Round 5 Results (chess-results)

Round 5 Games (LiChess)

5th Kingston Invitational: Round 4 (19 August 2026)

 At the start of round four of the 5th Kingston Invitational, Daniel Johnson of Sweden was the one remaining player with a 100% score, with 12 players half a point behind him on 2½, one of whom, Alfie Onslow, chose to sit out the fourth round with a half-point bye. That meant that all twelve players on the top six boards had hopes of being in the lead by the end of the round.

Round 4: players on the top six boards vying for the leadership

Daniel Johnson was perhaps relieved not to be facing the tournament's one grandmaster in this round. Instead he played Black against M R Sooraj. The 28-year-old Indian-registered, UK-based chess coach played a conservative double fianchetto opening which started to fray at the seams around move 19 and he soon found himself the exchange down. A dozen or so moves later Sooraj tried a tactic which backfired. Johnson was able to add to his material advantage and free his pieces for a straightforward win, cementing his place at the top of the leaderboard for a further round. Sooraj-Johnson on LiChess.

Daniel Johnson won again and now leads the tournament with 4/4

M R Sooraj faced the tournament leader

GM Danny Gormally was sitting next to M R Sooraj, with White against Jai Kothari. It was only when I processed the photos that I spotted a weird coincidence...

Danny Gormally

... namely that Messrs Sooraj and Gormally were both sporting Tommy Hilfiger hoodies (other brands are available). Is that what the well-dressed chess player is wearing this season? I would have thought that Danny, as befits a member of England's forthcoming senior international squad, might have gone in for something more age-appropriate such as a tweed jacket with leather elbow pads, a style made popular by geography teachers the length and breadth of the country back in the good old days.

Returning reluctantly to the chess: the Gormally-Kothari opening was a fairly orthodox QGD Tarrasch Defence, but Jai Kothari allowed a queen exchange which doubled his pawns and made the Gormally d-pawn into a passer. That said, Black made a very decent job of blockading it à la Nimzowitsch even after White had snaffled one of the doubled pawns to make it a true pawn plus. After it came down to a knight endgame, the analysis engine was still defiantly proclaiming Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (well, one of those anyway). But one always fears for the less experienced player in these circumstances. Sure enough, on move 57 Kothari unwisely abandoned the defence of his h-pawn and the grandmaster was able to win and reach 3½/4. Gormally-Kothari game on LiChess.

Two of the other confrontations between leaders, Arya Cont v Adam Taylor and Peter Finn v Sanjit Kumar ended in draws, but there were full points for Henry Adams and Mikhail Sedykh, enabling them to share second place with Danny Gormally. In both of these decisive games it proved to be a case of "he who dares, loses."

Henry Adams beat Gabriel Sherwood to move into joint second place with Gormally and Sedykh

Henry Adams versus Gabriel Sherwood began with a Catalan with Black going in for an early and unusual ...f5. Things seem to be progressing evenly until Black blundered with 28...Ra2, threatening White's queen, but overlooking an unusual double intermezzo tactic where White had two captures threatening Black's queen, ultimately netting him a piece for a pawn. Adams-Sherwood on LiChess.

Mikhail Sedykh, 51, is a member of Lewisham CC and a qualified arbiter

Balahari Bharat Kumar v Mikhail Sedykh started sedately with a near-symmetrical Q-side fianchetto system but gradually grew livelier as White started to attack the castled king position. However, he became over-optimistic and his tactical attempt at a mating finish backfired calamitously. Kumar-Sedykh on LiChess.

Round 4 Results (chess-results)

Round 4 Games (LiChess)

5th Kingston Invitational: Round 3 (18 August 2026)

The 5th Kingston Invitational is now at the point when it is perhaps worthwhile discussing who is in the lead.

Round 3 of the 5th Kingston Invitational in progress

After two rounds, seven players remained on 2/2: Adam Taylor, Sanjit Kumar, Daniel Johnson, Saahil Bansal, Jai Kothari, Balahari Bharat Kumar and Peter Sowray. In round three six of them were paired against each other, while Peter Sowray received a downfloat to Danny Gormally.

The Swedish player Daniel Johnson, making his second visit to a Kingston Invitational event (he played here in 2023) wasted little time in increasing his score to 3/3. He was the beneficiary of a simple oversight by Saahil Bansal on move 9 which cost the Hampshire player two pawns. He limped on for a few more moves but resigned on move 20 when it was clear there was nothing to be done. Link to Johnson-Bansal. As it turned out, none of the other round two leaders were able to win, leaving Daniel Johnson in glorious isolation on 3/3.

Early leader in the clubhouse: Daniel Johnson was gifted two pawns on move 9.

Another of the 100%-ers followed Bansal to defeat not too long after when Peter Sowray went down against Danny Gormally. The GM chose to defend a King's Indian Defence but Sowray played some indecisive moves, allowing Black to work up a kingside counter. Worse was to follow for Sowray as he weakened his dark squares around the king and the black pieces swarmed in to occupy them. It seems Gormally has put his first-round wobble behind him and is now breathing down the neck of the leaders. Link to Sowray-Gormally.

Danny Gormally moves to 2½/3 after defeating Peter Sowray.

The game between Jai Kothari and Balahari Bharat Kumar ended in a draw after 35 moves. It became lively around move 20 when White was obliged to give up two knights for a rook and two pawns but Black was ultimately unable to make anything of it.

Jai Kothari and Balahari Bharat Kumar drew and are amongst those on 2½/3.

The game between Adam A Taylor and Sanjit Kumar also ended in a draw despite running to 85 moves. Taylor gained a pawn but it was doubled, with little prospect of undoubling, and all the pawns were on one flank. White had a fleeting chance to win on move 72. It was difficult but he might have found it on a good day with a bit more time left on his clock.

Adam Taylor pressed for 85 moves but Sanjit Kumar held comfortably.

After yesterday's 172-move marathon between Peter Lalic and Alan Scrimgour it will have been noted that both players decided to take a bye in this morning's second round, with Scrimgour later deciding to withdraw altogether. Peter Lalic returned to the fray in round three and drew with Rick McMichael in 21 moves. 

Peter Lalic

Rick McMichael

Those were the boards involving the leaders but there was a fair bit of fun amongst the next batch of boards. Fun for the younger players, anyway: the older ones would probably disagree. Mike Healey discovered that, though life is said to begin at 40, the same can't necessarily be said of chess life. Playing the black side of what LiChess labels the French variation of the Sicilian Defence (about which I know nothing), he played an injudicious 21...Rc4 after which he found himself in a world of pain as Alfie Onslow conjured up some horrid threats down the e-file. Link to Onslow-Healey.

Mike Healey fell victim to an Onslow onslaught along the e-file.

Only a few hours ago I was congratulating Peter Large on his remarkable escape from defeat in round two, but he succumbed to defeat in the afternoon round against 16-year-old Gabriel Sherwood from Oxford. Hence none of our three resident IMs have made it beyond round three with their virtue unsullied. Large played the black side of an ancient line, a sort of Bishop's Opening-cum-Vienna-cum King's Gambit, but one which some of the stars of the present day have been known to try. But Large pushed his luck a bit too far, snatching Sherwood's opponent's e-pawn with a knight which promptly retreated whence it came. This bore a striking resemblance to a similarly outrageous piece of larceny which I wrote about only the other day for my forthcoming September column in CHESS Magazine, though in an entirely different opening. It received the same condign punishment that the pawn snatch written up in my soon-to-be-published column suffered, as Sherwood ripped open his opponent's kingside defences and delivered mate on the 23rd move. Link to Sherwood-Large. If you've only got time to play through one game, this is probably the one to go for. It's like one of those games found in old-time anthologies such as Tartakower and du Mont's 500 Master Games of Chess.

Gabriel Sherwood, 16, Oxford, mated IM Peter Large in just 23 moves.

Leaders after three rounds: Daniel Johnson (SWE) is alone on 3/3, while 12 players are on 2½, including GM Danny Gormally and Adam Taylor.

Complete Round 3 Rankings

Round 3 Game Scores (LiChess)

Round four begins at 10.00 UK time on Wednesday 19 August 2026.

5th Kingston Invitational: Round 2 (18 August 2026)

Round 2 of the 2026 Kingston Invitational tournament, played on the morning of 18 August 2026, provided more entertainment after the surprises and long-play controversy of Monday's opening round.

Adam Taylor (left) arrived 20 minutes late but still managed to overcome Rock Yu

Now occupying board one as top seed, with GM Danny Gormally relegated to the middle of the pairing list after conceding a first-round draw, was Adam A Taylor, rated 2269 but as yet untitled. That said, he didn't occupy the board until some 20 minutes into the round, which is risky given the briskness of the time control. His opponent, Rock Yu, worked up a very decent plus (in analysis engine terms) of around +2 and was threatening to up it to +3 when he committed a positional blunder on move 32, allowing Taylor's dismal light-squared bishop to escape imprisonment with 32...e5! There were some more inexplicable blunders to come, making me wonder whether the score might be at fault, culminating in White's 43 e6??.

On board two Thomas Villiers' double-fianchetto system for White didn't make much impression on his opponent as Peter Sowray gradually got on top. White did eventually manage to occupy the centre but it proved a rickety structure which Black expertly dismantled. GM Peter Wells commented on the finish on X...

The early rounds of the Kingston Invitational showing how tough Open tournaments are these days. Rating favourites on the top boards struggling and not only against young, hungry theoreticians! Nice finish from my good friend today - not hard, but still study-like. Black to play. pic.twitter.com/gg2aSUaIpd

— Peter Wells (@GMPeteWells) August 18, 2026

I'll leave you to figure out how Black won. If you want to see the full game score, it's here. 

Peter Sowray's win against Thomas Villiers made it 2/2 for Black on the top two boards

Another a third set-back for the white pieces on the higher boards was Mark Josse's loss to Daniel Johnson of Sweden after a failed combination cost him a piece.

Overview of the top boards in round two of the Kingston Invitational

Further down the pairings, Keatan Patel seemed to be on the brink of a second IM scalp in the space of two rounds when he won Peter Large's queen for a rook and a minor piece but White's king managed to sneak away from its appointed place of execution to the queenside. It looked to be only a stay of execution but White then managed to conjure up a perpetual check with his remaining pieces.

"They seek him here, they seek him there..." Peter Large staged a Pimpernel-like escape from defeat.

Round 2 games at lichess

5th Kingston Invitational: Round 1 (17 August 2026)

There were a few surprises in store as the 5th Kingston Invitational Swiss Tournament got underway on 17 August at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Eden Street, Kingston KT1 1HZ.

Councillor Thay Thayalan, the 192nd Mayor of Kingston-upon-Thames, paid us the compliment of opening the fifth edition of this popular event. He made the first move on the top board and enjoyed a bit of badinage with Danny Gormally, the one grandmaster in the field, as you can see from the smiling faces in the photo...

Danny Gormally persuaded Mayor Thay Thayalan to make the move 1 Na3 for his opponent

Once the game started in earnest, Phil Horspool was allowed to replace 1 Na3 with the rather more orthodox 1 e4. Despite being nearly 400 points below his formidable opponent, the Leicester man played a great game and was suddenly looking favourite when Gormally gave away the exchange on move 23. That said, it wasn't easy to see how to exploit his advantage but he was still a good deal better when a draw was agreed on move 55.

As well as the one grandmaster, there were three other IMs in the competition but two of them bit the dust at the first hurdle. Graeme Buckley was Black against Keatan Patel but in a typically complicated position he too went horribly wrong, coincidentally with the same bad move, Qb6, as had nearly been Gormally's undoing (in a completely different position). There were still some complications but the 19-year-old from Kenilworth navigated his way to a win.

Keatan Patel defeated IM Graeme Buckley in a complicated struggle.

Jack Rudd was the 2nd IM casualty of the afternoon, losing to Balahari Bharat Kumar. The game came down to a rook and pawns endgame the like of which I can't recall seeing before. I won't claim to have made sense of it in the short time available to appraise it but it became apparent that the titled player's extra pawn(s) were no match for the 17-year-old's menacing pair of passers. Anyone who thinks rook and pawn endings are dull should play through this game and be royally entertained.

Balahari Bharat Kumar overcame Jack Rudd in a terrific rook and pawns endgame.

This was a round of long games, the top five boards going to 55, 78, 65, 51 and 44 moves respectively. But nothing came close to the board six which went to an eye-watering, bottom-aching 172 moves. Care to guess one of the players involved? Those familiar with earlier Kingston tournaments will recall local man Peter Lalic and his predilection for ludicrously long drawn-out games. This time the long-suffering victim was his 75-year-old Kingston clubmate Alan Scrimgour. 

Peter Lalic

Alan Scrimgour

It really is time this sort of thing is outlawed by the rules. Open-ended playing sessions are a travesty of a sham of a fiasco of a mockery of two shams of a travesty, particularly for the young or the old. Maybe anyone aged under 15 or over 65 should be allowed to call a halt unilaterally after five hours' elapsed time and demand the game be adjourned or adjudicated. Yes, I know, everyone abominates adjudication but is it any worse than this? 

More fun (and elderly spleen) tomorrow...

Round 1 Results

Round 1 games at LiChess

5th Kingston Invitational Swiss, 17-21 August 2026

The 5th Kingston Invitational Swiss (17-21 August 2026) begins at 3.30pm this afternoon at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Eden Street, Kingston KT1 1HZ, which is also the HQ of Kingston Chess Club.

The first round pairings are here: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1422361 ... 1&SNode=S0

Play may be followed at lichess: https://lichess.org/broadcast/5th-kings ... 1/ogiwoQpX

There are nine rounds (one round today and two on each of the next four days at 10.00am and 3.30pm). The rate of play is 90 min + 30 sec / move.

The winner of the tournament will receive the Kingston Invitational Cup and £500, with £250 to second and £100 to third. The leading junior (17 or under) will receive the Barden Cup (named in honour of Guardian chess correspondent Leonard Barden) and £100. If players’ scores are level at the end of the tournament, a tie-break designated by the arbiters will be used. There will be no play-off.

Top seed is GM Danny Gormally and there are three IMs in the field (Graeme Buckley, Jack Rudd and Peter Large).

I shall be taking photos and posting reports here on my blog.