Fourth Kingston Invitational (Tuesday 12 to Saturday 16 August 2025)

[SMoss]

We are pleased to announce that we intend to run a fourth edition of the Kingston Invitational in August. The summer calendar seems even more crowded than usual this year and we did wonder about having a Glastonbury-style fallow year, but because it is the official 150th anniversary of the club (the 1875 foundation date is a little hazy, but we follow club tradition on this) we have decided to take the plunge.

Both the 2022 and 2023 editions were all-play-alls: a 10-player all-play-all in 2022 and two 10-player all-play-all groups in 2023, the higher-rated of which offered IM norms. The third Kingston Invitational was held in August 2024 and took the form of a highly competitive Swiss.The plan for 2025 is to combine the two formats, so we will have a strong 10-player all-play-all event (again with norms on offer) and a Swiss aimed at players with an ECF rating of 1800-plus. There are no entry fees for either event. It is by invitation only, though we warmly invite expressions of interest from those who would like to take part. We strive for a competitive but friendly tournament, a true festival of chess, and even supply free cream doughnuts.

The event will run from Tuesday 12 to Saturday 16 August, and will take place at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church https://kingstonurc.org/ in central Kingston. Full details are given on the Chess Results server: the IM norm event can be found here https://chess-results.com/tnr1160501.aspx?lan=1 and the Swiss here. https://chess-results.com/tnr1160510.aspx?lan=1&art=1 Fields will be updated as they are assembled.

Both tournaments will be Fide-rated and take place over nine rounds. The organiser and chief arbiter of the event – both norm tournament and Swiss – is Paul McKeown, who will be supported by deputy chief arbiter John Gordon Bowley and by Edward Mospan from Kingston Chess Club.

IM norm tournament

There are eight entrants so far. They are (in order of current Fide rating, with that rating given in brackets):

IM Vladyslav Larkin (2437)
IM Peter Large (2342)
FM Roland Bezuidenhout (2311)
CM David Maycock (2288)
Adam Taylor (2270)
IM Graeme Buckley (2268)
CM Supratit Banerjee (2250)
CM Peter Lalić (2137)

We seek two players to complete the field 10, but to comply with norm requirements those two must be affiliated to a federation other than England; they must be titled; and they must be rated above 2400. Any players who fit these criteria and are interested in playing in the tournament are invited to email me at [email protected]

Swiss

Alongside the norm tournament, we will run a Swiss for around 50 players. Ideally they should have an ECF rating of 1800 or above, though we may make some exceptions. The Swiss will have the same time control as the norm tournament – 90 minutes + 30-second increment. There will be two rounds on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and a single round on Saturday morning, with a blitz play-off for the trophy in the event of a tie. The play-off will only determine who receives the winner’s trophy; the prize money will be split according to final placing in the event of a tie.

Anyone interested in playing in the Swiss is invited to email me at [email protected], but we would ask that if you are accepted for the event you make every effort to play. It is frequently pointed out that the flaw with an Invitational is that players have not made an upfront payment to play, so have nothing to lose by not showing up. If you are accepted, please play, because your acceptance of a place may have denied someone else a chance to play.

Stephen Moss, tournament director and Kingston club captain

[Ian Thompson]

Anyone interested in playing in the Swiss is invited to email me at [email protected], but we would ask that if you are accepted for the event you make every effort to play. It is frequently pointed out that the flaw with an Invitational is that players have not made an upfront payment to play, so have nothing to lose by not showing up.

Some tournaments address that issue by requiring invited players to pay a deposit which is refunded to them either when they arrive at the tournament or when they've satisfactorily completed the tournament.

[IM Jack Rudd]

IM norm tournament

There are eight entrants so far. They are (in order of current Fide rating, with that rating given in brackets):

IM Vladyslav Larkin (2437)
IM Peter Large (2342)
FM Roland Bezuidenhout (2311)
CM David Maycock (2288)
Adam Taylor (2270)
IM Graeme Buckley (2268)
CM Supratit Banerjee (2250)
CM Peter Lalić (2137)

We seek two players to complete the field 10, but to comply with norm requirements those two must be affiliated to a federation other than England; they must be titled; and they must be rated above 2400. Any players who fit these criteria and are interested in playing in the tournament are invited to email me at [email protected]

Hang on a second. Non-English and titled, yes, I agree, but the field you've got so far is well over 2230; there's no particular reason your last two have to be 2400+.

[LawrenceCooper]

IM norm tournament

There are eight entrants so far. They are (in order of current Fide rating, with that rating given in brackets):

IM Vladyslav Larkin (2437)
IM Peter Large (2342)
FM Roland Bezuidenhout (2311)
CM David Maycock (2288)
Adam Taylor (2270)
IM Graeme Buckley (2268)
CM Supratit Banerjee (2250)
CM Peter Lalić (2137)

We seek two players to complete the field 10, but to comply with norm requirements those two must be affiliated to a federation other than England; they must be titled; and they must be rated above 2400. Any players who fit these criteria and are interested in playing in the tournament are invited to email me at [email protected]

Hang on a second. Non-English and titled, yes, I agree, but the field you've got so far is well over 2230; there's no particular reason your last two have to be 2400+.

It looks like they are aiming for a 6.5/9 norm.

[SMoss]

The field for the norm tournament is now complete:

GM Jakub Kosakowski [Fide 2530]
IM Vladyslav Larkin (2443)
IM Peter Large (2335)
Supratit Banerjee (2312)
FM Roland Bezuidenhout (2295)
David Maycock (2274)
IM Graeme Buckley (2259)
Adam A Taylor (2258)
WIM/FM Liwia Jarocka (2251)
Peter Lalić (2144)

Congratulations to 11-year-old FM-elect Supratit Banerjee, who has this month broken through the 2300 barrier.

The field for the Swiss is taking shape and we invite expressions of interest from players, especially those with Fide ratings above 2000, who would like to take part. This is the field as it stands currently:

https://chess-results.com/tnr1160510.aspx?lan=1

Stephen Moss
Tournament director and Kingston club captain

[IM Jack Rudd]

Put me down as interested in playing in the Swiss (and also being willing to be drafted in as a reserve should a player in the norm tournament or an arbiter suddenly fall ill or whatever).

[SMoss]

Thank you Jack, that would be terrific. Please email me so we are in contact: [email protected]

[SMoss]

The winner of the Swiss at the Kingston Invitational will receive, with Leonard's blessing, the Barden Cup. (We gave this to the leading junior last year to reflect Leonard's work with English juniors, but this year and henceforth it will go to the overall winner of the event.) The tournament finishes four days before Leonard's 96th birthday. It will also mark the 70th anniversary of Leonard's first column for the Guardian newspaper, which appeared in September 1955, though he did not become official correspondent until April 1956 following the death of Julius du Mont. There is a minimum first prize in the Swiss of £500. In the event of a tie, there will be a blitz play-off for the trophy, but prize money will be split according to final places in the tournament. The play-off determines only the winner of the Barden Cup itself. It is possible that prize money will rise. The figures currently quoted are minimum prizes. The current field is below, but I invite further expressions of interest from players with a Fide rating above 2000.

https://chess-results.com/tnr1160510.aspx?lan=1

Stephen Moss
Kingston club captain and tournament director

[SMoss]

The fields have now been finalised for the Kingston Invitational, https://kingstonchess.com/wp-admin/post ... ction=edit which starts on Tuesday. The event, at the United Reformed Church in central Kingston, will comprise a 10-player all-play-all with norms https://s2.chess-results.com/tnrWZ.aspx ... no=1160501 and a 50-plus-player Open https://s3.chess-results.com/tnrWZ.aspx ... no=1160510

The players taking part in the all-play-all include GM Jakub Kosakowski, who came second in this year's Polish championship; FM Supratit Banerjee, who played superbly at the British Championship to earn his first IM norm; Spanish IM Ivan Valles Moreno; Polish WIM Liwia Jarocka and a group of very strong local players.

The field for the Open includes five-times British women's champion Susan Lalić; two-times Polish women's champion Michalina Rudzinska; IM John Hawksworth, playing his first major tournament in more than 30 years; the mercurial English IM Jack Rudd; the possibly even more mercurial Argentinian IM Raul Claverie; young Norwegian FMs Jacob Templen Grave and Gunnar Lund; German WFM Luisa Bashylina; the Chinese player Junhao Xian, also making a return to tournament chess; and many strong local players.

The prize fund has been raised to £2,500. Both the all-play-all and the Swiss will be played over nine rounds, Tuesday to Saturday, at a time control of 90 minutes + 30-second increment. Chief arbiter is Paul McKeown, assisted by deputy chief arbiter John Gordon Bowley and national arbiter Edward Mospan. All the games in the all-play-all and the top 10 boards in the Swiss will be broadcast live.

The tournament is run in conjunction with Kingston Chess Club, and will mark the club's 150th anniversary. It will be officially opened by the Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Noel Hadjimichael, and on the opening morning we will be remembering two legends of chess here in south-west London who have died in the past fortnight: IM Gavin Wall, who was due to play in the Open, and long-time Surbiton chairman Paul Durrant.

John Saunders will report on the tournament via his X account https://x.com/johnchess?lang=en and on his blog https://johnchess.blogspot.com/ and at the end of the tournament there will be a full report, collating all John's written material, games analysis and photography, on the Kingston club website https://kingstonchess.com/

GM Daniel King will judge the Best Game prize, which can come from either the all-play-all or the Open. This will be announced on the Kingston website and the game analysed soon after the conclusion of the tournament. We thank all the players who have agreed to take part in the Invitational and look forward to an exciting and friendly five days.

Stephen Moss, Kingston Invitational tournament director

[John Moore]

Can see the games from Round 1 but nothing showing for me on LiChess in Round 2.

[LawrenceCooper]

Can see the games from Round 1 but nothing showing for me on LiChess in Round 2.

Round 2 games have appeared, albeit with one already finished.

[John Moore]

Thanks Loz - that's a bit late.

[John Saunders]

I'm producing daily photo-reports on the 4th Kingston Invitational tournament (runs 12-16 August) at my blogsite.

Opening Ceremony (with tributes to Gavin Wall and Paul Durrant)
Day 1 (rounds 1 and 2)
Day 2 (rounds 3 and 4)

Round 5 is currently live at LiChess

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Excellent reports. Do not miss (in the Day 2 report) the hilarious 4-part photographic time-lapse study of Supratit Banerjee thinking at the chessboard!

[SMoss]

Brilliant stuff John. Thank you so much for your superb reports and photographs.