As part of the Twinning Reaffirmation weekend we hosted a delegation from Fontainebleau Chess Club in France, culminating in a social event on Saturday 7 June, which took place at Richmond Bridge Club.

We staged two 6-board rapidplay matches, with a simul from IM Gavin Wall in between.

Alastair displayed his chess set which was used by Lasker, Steinitz and others in the great London 1899 tournament.

We won the first match 4:2 and lost the second match by the same score, so the result, fittingly, was a 6:6 draw! We were delighted to be able to include juniors from both RTCC and the Twickenham Library Junior Chess Club in our teams.

The evening was a great success and very much enjoyed by everyone concerned. But it wasn’t really the results or even the games that mattered. Sometimes, I feel, we miss the point about chess. At one level it’s about winning and losing, about titles and rating points. But, at another level, it’s about something much more important.

At a time when the world seems increasingly divided by hatred, this event was a salutary reminder of what we have in common, and of how shared interests can bring us together.

We were bringing two neighbouring countries with a shared history and heritage together, but, beyond that, both delegations also represented the wider world. I overheard participants from the two teams, for example, bonding over shared Egyptian connections.

We were bonded over three centuries as well, with the top board games taking place using Alastair’s 1899 set and board, and providing a link with the greats of the late 19th century. Jacques Mieses played in the Minor section and will have seen, but perhaps not played on the board. He and I share a common opponent: we’ve both played competitive games against Leonard Barden, still writing outstanding chess columns at the age of 95. Richmond Bridge Club member Bernard Themis looked in to say hello: he and I first met at the London Junior Chess Championships almost 60 years ago and tend to bump into each other every 20 years or so! Direct links from 1899 to 2025, via 1965.

Finally, we were bonded not just over chess but over the whole concept of Mind Sports. Chess and bridge are two of the world’s greatest Mind Sports, and many, including Richmond Bridge Club Manager Richard Banbury, have connections with both. Although it wasn’t one of my regular clubs, I believe I played there myself on a few occasions back in about 1967-68. It’s great to see how chess, bridge and other games are integrated at the London Mind Sports Centre in Hammersmith (just opposite my old school) and I hope this will provide a template for further projects of this nature in future.

My thanks to the organising and hosting team: Alastair, Tom B, David, Sampson and Julian, to Gavin for giving the simul, to Nadine for providing photographs, to our charming and generous hosts at Richmond Bridge Club, to our new friends from Fontainebleau and to all who took part in this event.