Bedford B headed to Milton Keynes to face the Exiles, AKA Luton, in their final away match of the season. Although the title may have been beyond the team, the prize of third place was motivation enough.
For most of the evening all the games were pretty even, and it was not at all clear who would be coming out on top.
John was engaged in a right royal battle on board 5. Having been piqued by the Editor’s accusation (I have no recollection of any such suggestion! – Ed) that he played boring chess, he countered this by thrusting lots of pawns forward. Despite a scare in the middle game when his opponent captured his a1 rook with his knight, John always seemed to have much more play. John eventually picked up two pieces for his rook and then a knight fork left him a piece up and he was able to convert the position to a win.
On board 3 I was engaged in an interesting battle with Peter Montgomery. After a King’s Indian opening, I managed to open the g file, and then won the f7 pawn. It then got a little hairy and at one point Peter even thought he had mated me on the back rank (forgetting knights can move backward to block checks!. I was able to simplify into a R&K v R&B ending with two extra pawns and managed to win, despite some average endgame play.
On board 4 Marc was once again adopting a patient approach. Although his opponent had complete control of the open b file with both rooks and queen lining down on it, there did not appear to be too much danger. After queens came off, a cunning tactical manoeuvre allowed Marc to win the exchange and ultimately the game, to give the team a winning lead.
Steve had a good tussle against Andrew Perkins on board 1. The game appeared even throughout the evening and it boiled down to a rook and pawn ending (everyone’s favourite!). With the match lost, Andrew offered a draw, and it is no exaggeration to say that his hand was practically grabbed off (Steve missed a forced win on move 32, errantly exchanging off into a completely drawn ending but Alex’s description of the draw acceptance is correct – I can’t play rook and pawn endings! – Ed).
On board 2, Nick had a frustrating evening against Michael Joseph. It seemed to be a tight game for much of the evening, although Nick did manage to win the exchange at one point. In the mutual time scramble at the end of the match Michael managed to engineer a horrible pin against Nick’s queen which was going to result in him being a clear piece up, and forced resignation.
The team back to winning ways and a win in our final match will guarantee third place – so get your tickets now!
Alex Taylor 08/04/2016
P.S. (Ed)
Incidentally, other Bedford players had a rough night at MK in round 4 of the County Individual which was also being played. Steve L conceded a mate in 1 (Qxg7++)- “first one in ten years” (probably misquoted), also “f***” (loudly and definitely not misquoted) – in time trouble against Graham Borrowdale. Gerry looked better against Kevin Williamson all night but lost a K+2P v K+2P in time trouble. Ben won a fine game, Karthik Ramesh having no reply to the very strong 1.e4 (he didn’t turn up).