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 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. 

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