…. according to Bedford B

After three victories in a row the B team made their longest away trip of the season to face the juggernaut that is Bedford A.

As part of our attempt to get one over our big brother the B team juggled the board order and drafted in Gerry as a late sub –would this tactic work?

After an hour’s play things were looking good  with me, Chris and Nick having solid positions on the top three boards and Joe seeming to have control in his game against Mike.  The only worry was that Spike had rediscovered some form and having played a devastating early pawn thrust to e6 as white against Gerry’s Caro-Kann which left black’s position completely uncoordinated with his pieces beautiful spectators on all edges of the board.  Sadly (for us!) this proved terminal, giving the Champions an early lead.

Boards 2 and 3 proved to be games of contrasting fortunes in the middle game. 

On board 2, Chris expertly freed his position against Ravi in another Caro-Kann and managed to open up the h-file and force resignation with a forced mate imminent – Chris’s typically modest account: “Ravi was in an attacking mood and I had to be very careful in the opening. However after declining his piece sacrifice, I managed to develop my pieces and Ravi sacrificed a pawn to get some play. I sacrificed the pawn back very quickly for control of the centre but could not get control of the h file to attack his king. I rather cunningly offered to repeat moves with the hope that Ravi would decline and allow my queen a good square on the h file. While Ravi was occupied on the queenside I manoeuvred a rook round to h8 and the mate could not be stopped.”. 

On board 3 Nick seemed to have had a slight advantage against Paul, but this proved illusory and Paul converted his position into another win for the A Team with a pretty bishop and knight mate

With just boards 1 and 5 left to finish, and the score 2-1 in the A Team’s favour, would there be any late drama?

On the top board, I had managed to hold on to an extra pawn going in to a double knight and rook ending but failing to take note of the old adage “passed pawns must be pushed” spent too much time mucking about.  In the final time scramble, with passed pawns on both sides steaming down the board, things suddenly simplified as all the pieces were exchanged leaving a totally drawn position.

At the same time, Joe’s game against Mike reached a dramatic conclusion.  Joe had had a winning kingside attack but mis-played it slightly. Mike had tried to complicate things with an exchange sacrifice and the ending of rook and knight v rook and connected passed pawns was technically very difficult and Joe should have been thinking “draw” but was still in “win” mode by his own admission. After the sacking of the knight for the two pawns both players were very short of time and Joe missed the drawing line.

So a 3.5-1.5 victory for the A Team, but not as clear-cut as the score line suggests.

Alex Taylor/Chris Hill 27/03/2015