Our D team started its Div 2 campaign against an OU team which included two players, Vincent Edwards and Mark Osborn, who I believe may be newcomers to the Beds League – I can’t recall seeing them before.
We had our own newcomer on board 5, young Oliver Delbowski, who recently outplayed Peter Hunt in an ending in the Cordon Trophy – no mean achievement. I’m afraid I can’t say much about his game other than that he appeared to register a smooth win. What a pity for Bedford Chess that he will soon be returning to Poland!
On board 4 James Grimditch appeared to me to have lost a rook for little compensation but had a clever combination in mind which regained the rook and left him well in charge.
I am unable to say much about George Griffith’s game. I would guess he unleashed something from his usual box of tricks, and he won without too much apparent difficulty.
Lucian Cox sacrificed a piece to get at his opponent’s King and finished off in style.
So the match was won but that left Evan Lewis playing OU Captain James Alexander on top board. Evan had called in hoping to play some casual games during a few days at home from University but was persuaded to stand in for Enrico who was unable to play. James, a formidable opponent for Division 2, was playing his first over the board game since the lockdown. They were locked in a very tight arm wrestle of a game. Everyone else had gone home except non playing captain Andy Evans and myself. Evan felt he had a slight edge but a small mistake enabled James to get at his King.
Probably too soon to worry about having all 4 four of our teams in Div 1 but an excellent start to the season!
Evan Lewis 0 James Alexander 1
Lucian Cox 1 Vincent Edwards 0
James Grimditch 1 David Webber 0
George Griffiths 1 Elliott Long 0
Oliver Delbowski 1 Mark Osborne 0
Beds D 4 OU 1
Peter Gill, 4th November 2023