John Saunders reports: the 4th Kingston Invitational, held 12-16 August 2025 at the Richard Mayo Centre, Eden Street, Kingston-upon-Thames, drew to its conclusion on Saturday 16th. GM Jakub Kosakowski of Poland, who had already made sure of first place in the previous round, stretched his margin of victory to two points with a last-round win, while IM Ivan Valles Moreno (Spain) and FM-elect David Maycock Bates (Mexico) shared the second and third prizes.
Winner of the all-play-all, GM Jakub Kosakowski (centre), flanked by the players who shared second place, David Maycock Bates (left) and Ivan Valles Moreno.
The nine-round Open Swiss held alongside resulted in a tie for first between the two Norwegian FMs, Jacob Templen Grave and Gunnar Lund. They shared the money but played a two-game blitz play-off for the honour of lifting the trophy, which resulted in a 1½-½ victory for Jacob Templen Grave. WGM Michalina Rudzinska of Poland secured the third prize.
n.b. the complete crosstable for this event is available from chess-results.com via this link
Jacob Templen Grave (1st on tie-break), John Foley (Kingston CC President), Gunnar Lund (right)
WGM Michalina Rudzinska (Poland) receives her prize for finishing 3rd in the Open Swiss
Jai Kothari (left) and Shlok Verma made the best score (5½/9) by under-18 players in the Open Swiss. The blitz play-off to decide the destination of the Barden Cup was won by Jai Kothari, seen here receiving it from guest of honour GM Daniel King
GM Daniel King awarded the best game prize to Bob Eames for his last-round win in the Open event.
There was a second play-off between the highest scoring under-18 players for the honour of lifting the Barden Cup. The two players were Jai Kothari of Hampton School and Shlok Verma of Petts Wood & Orpington. Jai Kothari won the play-off by 2-0.
All-Play-All, Round 9 (16 August 2025)
Despite the fact that first place had already been decided and with no norm chances at stake, the final round was as well contested as the eight previous ones. If you consult the crosstable above, you can see that only 16 of the 45 games ended in a draw, with just two bloodless encounters on the final day.
Ivan Valles Moreno vs Supratit Banerjee lasted 14 moves. The Spanish employed another theory-light queen's pawn opening, this time developing his dark-squared bishop outside the pawn chain in a Torre Attack.
11-year-old Supratit Banerjee finished on a 50% score, gaining 13 rating points.
The game between the Polish FM Liwia Jarocka and CM Peter Lalic wasn't actually as 'bloodless' as I billed it above. It lasted only 20 moves but it packed quite a lot of incident into a short space, with both players having opportunities to establish an advantage. Black seemed to enjoy a distinct edge when hostilities ceased.
Liwia Jarocka vs Peter Lalic
The game between the tournament winner Jakub Kosakowski and Graeme Buckley opened with a Rossolimo variation against the Sicilian and was a known line to around move 15. Black was doing fine until move 23 when he allowed White to get in a powerful e6 thrust which gave White a big advantage. A couple more inaccuracies was all it took for White to break through and deliver mate.
Jakub Kosakowski vs Graeme Buckley
Roland Bezuidenhout vs Adam A Taylor began with a Kalashnikov Sicilian and followed a known line where Black gives up a pawn for some Benkö-Gambit-like counterplay. White consolidated his extra pawn and for a while looked to have a significant advantage, but in the run-up to the time control it became fairly clear that a win was unlikely. But then, calamity - White committed a horrendous blunder and had to resign immediately after Black's obvious reply. This unexpected stroke of luck enabled Adam A Taylor to leapfrog his opponent into fourth place in the tournament.
Roland Bezuidenhout vs Adam A Taylor
The last game to finish was IM Peter Large vs FM-elect David Maycock Bates. The other day on Twitter/X, Peter Large expressed his sentiments about the tournament...
Point 2 is of course entirely correct but I must take issue with point 1. Peter Large is not, and never has been in my memory span, a very weak player. However, he is the oldest player in the field by some margin, turning 70 next spring, and anno domini is the most pitiless opponent of them all. Perhaps playing two games a day is too strenuous, particularly during the recent spell of oppressive weather we've (not) been enjoying. As one of the other players pointed out after the round, Peter's team chess record for Kingston CC in the past season has been outstanding. It's one area of chess where a retired player can perhaps retain an edge, coming fresh to an evening game after a relaxing day at home, whereas younger players who still have to work for a living may arrive a little jaded from their daytime responsibilities.
Large vs Maycock began with a Siesta variation of the Ruy Lopez, which, as a gazillion annotators before me have quipped, is far from sleepy. (Far be it from me to write anything original.) The game proceeded down a strange line with which I am unfamiliar. As it was to Peter Large, apparently, as he made a mistake on move ten. It will be no consolation to him to know that I would have fallen for the same trick, which I looked up in an ancient opening book (Modern Chess Openings, 1965 edition) and found it was a known line then. To rid himself of the bishop and pawn uncomfortably embedded in the heart of his position, he was obliged to surrender the exchange for a pawn. It took Black a while to unravel his position but once the queens were off the board, Black's advantage had become substantial. Thereafter David Maycock Bates found an accurate way to exploit his material advantage and lift himself into a tie for second place in the tournament.
Peter Large vs David Maycock Bates
The Congress Team
It would be remiss of me to close without some words of praise for the Kingston congress team who have done a splendid job in organising this event.
Firstly, tournament organiser Stephen Moss, who has been the driving force behind the congress these past four years. He deserves an award for his part in proceedings: I have in mind the Victoria Cross, for valour over and above the call of duty, or some such military-style award, rather than a mere civilian decoration such as an O.B.E. I can't remember who is credited with the saying "chess is war" but he got it slightly wrong. It should be "chess organising is war" and it should be recognised as the military undertaking that it undoubtedly is. Before the last round Stephen was presented with a small gift as a token of gratitude from his fellow officials and players. It was a copy of Peter Doggers' book The Chess Revolution. Hopefully it will inspire our beloved leader to write a follow-up to his excellent The Rookie, to be titled The Kingston Chess Revolution, telling the story of Kingston Chess Club's inexorable rise to eminence and success in recent years.
Kudos also to Paul McKeown for his excellent debut as the congress's Chief Arbiter. His ebullience and competence have ensured that the congress has gone without a hitch. He was ably and cheerfully supported by assistant arbiters John Bowley and Ed Mospan, both of whom earned arbiting title norms during the event.
Chief Arbiter IA Paul McKeown
John Bowley receives his arbiting norm certificate
Ed Mospan (right) also received an arbiting norm certificate for his work at the congress.
End Notes...
The Kingston Congress had a few nice touches that you don't get at every chess tournament. For example, there were plenty of refreshments on offer and they were all free. Take a look at the refreshments table at start of play each day...
... let's take another look at that cake.
... and of course I'm telling you this now, after the event, in case any freeloaders were tempted to come along and do a Homer Simpson on the doughnuts. Spectators, incidentally, were NOT welcome in the playing area (where the refreshments were located) as there wasn't room to accommodate them. But, come next August, and (hopefully) another Kingston Congress, make a note in your diary - "free doughnuts" - and bear it in mind when deciding which tournament you want to play in.
I think that's a wrap. Hope you've enjoyed reading the reports as much as I have enjoyed writing them. (I may add a further post or two about the tournament in the coming week - watch this space)
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