The B Team secured their status in Division 1 of the Beds County league with a close-fought win over Leighton Buzzard B who are now unable to overtake us.
| Board | Rating | Leighton Buzzard B | V | Bedford B | Rating |
| 1 | 1847 | Williamson, Kevin J | ½ – ½ | Bodily, Richard T | 1953 |
| 2 | 1810 | Taylor, Peter | 0 – 1 | Dairi, Ramsey | 1856 |
| 3 | 1781 | Woodward, Ian P | ½ – ½ | Taylor, Alex | 1941 |
| 4 | 1746 | Dorn, C Fred H | 1 – 0 | Pike, Steve C | 1862 |
| 5 | 1604 | Gallagher, Sean | 0 – 1 | Walker, Robert S | 1745 |
| Total | 8788 | 2 – 3 | 9357 |
However, for a long time success looked unlikely, and it required two excellent individual recoveries to see us through.
My game on bottom board, was over quite quickly. Against a Sicilian Dragon, my Yugoslav Attack broke through on the h file, and while I missed a spectacular mate, the outcome rarely looked in doubt.
Richard, playing on top board in Mike’s absence through illness, had a predictable draw, with little in the position either way.
Steve, had what looked like a draw in a knight and pawn ending, but erred to allow a rook’s pawn to queen [the ineptitude of this performance cannot be overstated; many thanks to Ramsey and Alex for rescuing the team’s fortunes – Ed].
This left Ramsey and Alex, both of whom were in difficult positions. Ramsey once again was well behind on time. His game got down to a 2R and pawn ending, but his opponent’s pair of rooks were disjointed. Ramsey marched his king up the board to pose mating threats and created a path for his passed pawn to queen.
Under pressure, Alex dropped a pawn and looked to have a lost N and pawn ending. After three hours play, and with the game in the rapid play phase, an observer was recording the moves and got onto a second score sheet. Alex’s knight harassed his opponent’s king sufficiently to prevent him from pressing home his advantage. Alex eventually gave up the knight for two pawns, to obtain the draw.
Rob Walker
14-03-2025