Epsom 1 fall just short against Coulsdon 1 in the Surrey Trophy
- James Pooler
- Mar 27
- 7 min read
Surrey Trophy - Monday 3rd March 2025
8 boards, 84-90 Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon
Coulsdon 1 4.5-3.5 Epsom 1
On 3rd March, Epsom 1 ventured east to play Coulsdon 1. A week prior, Guildford defeated Ashtead to guarantee Epsom’s presence in the Surrey Trophy for the 2025/26 season, whilst Kingston 1 are out of reach at the top of the league.
Being one of the largest clubs in the country, we were expecting a strong showing from Coulsdon at their home venue. We were not left disappointed in that regard, as we were outrated on all boards except Board 2.
This was the third meeting between IM Susan Lalić and Ian Snape in little over 12 months, although it was the first meeting where Susan benefited from the white pieces. Both prior meetings resulted in a draw, and this game followed suit with neither player able to find a decisive breakthrough.
James McCarthy was facing Timur Kuzhelev with the black pieces. I didn’t manage to get James’ scoresheet but noticed that he was a pawn down in the middle game, which proved to be decisive as his opponent duly converted – a key win in the context of the match.
Chris Wright continued a good run of form, holding Evaldas Baltrunas to a draw with the white pieces. This is the third opponent that Chris has drawn with in the past month whose rating is over 100 points higher than his own.
James Pooler was playing with the white pieces and a near 300-point rating deficit against the young Venkata Kilambi. I played the English opening, which saw some interesting play, but according to the computer, after 25 moves, the evaluation was dead level. Black had managed to line his rooks up on the semi-open b-file, targeting white’s b2-pawn, but with his own backward pawn on c5.
Having analysed this game after the event, I would have been much better off playing actively, lining my rooks up on the c-file and targeting my opponent’s weakness, as opposed to trying to defend my b-pawn. Had I followed this line, it is highly likely that a mass consolidation would have taken place, trading a pair of rooks and knights, leaving an equal position, albeit with black benefitting from the bishop pair.
I didn’t find this idea over the board, and a few moves later we arrived at the below position:
In this position, black is slightly better according to the machine, but with it being materially equal, there was still plenty to play for. At this point, I inexplicably played a losing blunder of 28. f4??
I can only put this down to some kind of strange muscle memory where the rook is usually on f1 protecting the f pawn. Had I played Ng2 first, or simply exchanged on c5, it would have led to an interesting position, where the computer continues to favour black, but it is still very complicated with potential pitfalls for either side.
Once my opponent won my f and g-pawns for his e-pawn, it was all over. I carried on trying to defend in vain and resigned shortly after with mate looming.
Epsom’s youngest player of the evening (by some margin) Maya Keen fared much better next to me on Board 7 against Ian Calvert, despite also being outrated by almost 300 points. Maya had the black pieces in a Nimzo–Larsen Attack. Both players came out of the opening relatively unscathed, with all eight pawns remaining, with only two sets of minor pieces exchanged, leaving black with the bishop pair against white’s knight and dark squared bishop.
The position is very blocked, with both sides suffering from bad minor pieces as it is unclear how white’s knight or black’s dark squared bishop are going to get into the game. The game continued 25. Kg2 Bxc1 26. Rxc1 Qf4 27. Qf2??
I believe at this point Maya was down to a few minutes on the clock, whilst her opponent had at least 15 minutes. This inexplicable blunder from white left his rook on c1 undefended, but under time pressure Maya unfortunately missed the free piece and traded queens on f2 (much to her opponent’s relief, I imagine).
After this miss, there was a continued effort to win by both players, but ultimately the blocked position meant that it was difficult for either side to make any progress, and Maya had been playing with under one minute on her clock for a number of moves when the position began to repeat and white offered a draw, which was duly accepted. An excellent result for Maya against a strong opponent – her first draw in classical chess against a player rated over 2000 ECF.
Recent 2000-rated inductee Marcus Gosling had the black pieces against Rupert Marsden, an opponent he had previously drawn with two years previously at Hastings. Marcus was eager to continue his excellent season on a personal level, with the game following the Advance variation of the Caro-Kann. The queens were traded very early and as Marcus put it, his opponent seemed to be content to play for a draw and trade into an insipid endgame.
To support this claim, Marcus pointed to the below position after 17 moves. There isn’t a lot going on in the position, however white was happy to continue with 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Ng5 Rfd8 20. Nxe6+ fxe6.
From this point, there really wasn’t a huge amount to comment on. Marcus continued in the rook and pawn end game, which then saw the rooks exchange and both sides promote to a queen, although Marcus was a pawn up. Despite this, the computer analysis showed that there was never more than a 0.5 advantage for either player throughout the entire game.
The final recorded position (both players were virtually playing on increment by this point) illustrates this. Black is a pawn up, but a draw is all but guaranteed barring any catastrophic blunder by either player.
The game continued for some time as Marcus continued to try and hustle his opponent, knowing that the outcome of the match hung in the balance, but white managed to defend accurately and the draw was eventually confirmed.
Marcus’s game appeared to be indicative of the theme of the night, as FM Peter Lee sent me his scoresheet commenting, “score of my not very interesting game yesterday…”
Having looked through the game, it is difficult to argue with Peter’s assessment.
After 24 moves, we arrive at this position:
Material is equal, and it is hard to see how either side could muster chances of any kind. A handful of moves later and we see Peter exchange knights on c5, with black taking back with the b-pawn to protect the passed d-pawn. There is however no way to make progress with the passed pawn, and a draw was agreed. Not a game for the ages, but it completed a good set of results from Boards 4-7 inclusive of half points against higher-rated opposition.
The final game of the match was the blockbuster main event, where IM Graeme Buckley faced the prodigious CM Supratit Banerjee, who has continued to gain rating at an alarming rate and is in the top 100 players in England.
Graeme had been playing himself back into excellent form heading into this game, following a series of good results against strong opposition. He has been generous in sharing his thoughts and post-match analysis below:
“After the game and after 15 moves, the position is evaluated at -0.30, so more than satisfactory for Black but not a winning advantage by any stretch of the imagination. During the game, I felt I knew that I was comfortable and also I had a crucial time advantage. White's f3 and h3 moves allows 16. Bd3 Rxe3 -0.44 but I didn't consider this for long.”
“ By Black's move 21, the position was still hovering around equal according to the engine. During the game, I didn't know what was going on but wanted to keep practical chances and so fairly quickly played one of the decent moves available, 20...Qc4.”
“The position after 31 moves is about 0.60 according to the engine. On my PC I looked at this and I could not see why White is ahead, and if the advantage increased anymore then I might be favourite to lose. Surely my two bishops count for something? The position is open, and I thought the Alpha Zero engine encouraged the pushing of h-pawns. I've not properly got round to understanding why. Anyway, during the game, I still had a time advantage which is why I declined a draw on move 24. Whilst having these thoughts, the engine decreases its evaluation to 0.30 so it is equal. Even my engine doesn't seem to know! (What's the difference between 0.6 and 0.3 anyway?) Best save some time for later in the game.”
“Finally, I felt I understood what was going on a little better. But 33 moves had been played and with my time dipping under 5 minutes, it was time to stop notating. He had a few seconds more than me now and the rest is very difficult to play with so little time.
The engine says there are six ways for White to continue and evaluates somewhere between -0.70 and -1.10”.
“The complexities have increased. I spent some time looking at 33. Bg4 but I felt it wouldn't work because of a timely Ng5. 33...f5 is -3 but I didn't see it. Still, 33...Kf7 as played was good for -2.”
“After 37. Rge1, I noticed that I should underpromote to a knight. Really cool! He didn't allow me to do this, playing 37. Rh1 -2.80.”
“Immense! After 39...Kf8 40 Nxc4 Bf4+ I have a simple win with the g and h-pawns supported by the rooks. I didn't conceive of this idea and so played 39...Bxe5”.
“Here I had 41...Rh3+. White might subsequently blunder and get mated, but if not, Black will have a monster h2-pawn protected by …Rg2 and the light-squared bishop should make matters fairly straightforward, even with little time on the clock.
41...Rd8 was a safe move but it allows White the chance to draw with accurate play.”
“Finally, the game has come down to one move. 54. Rd1 Rd5 is a drawn king and pawn ending. Everything else on move 54 loses for White.”
Fortunately for Graeme, both players were down to seconds at this point and Supratit played 54. Kf3 Kc5. The game continued for 10 or so more moves before white resigned in a hopeless position. An excellent game with very insightful thoughts from Epsom’s Board 1.
Unfortunately, the two losses on Boards 3 and 8 outweighed Graeme’s win and cost Epsom the match by the narrowest margin of 4½-3½, but credit to all involved as we put up a good fight against strong opposition. We look forward to our final match of the season at home to already-relegated Ashtead in mid-April.
