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 his long-suffering victim was his 75-year-old Kingston clubmate Alan Scrimgour. With friends like that...

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...