Bedford ‘B’ kicked-off their season with a home match against Milton Keynes ‘A’ (previously confusing known as Milton Keynes ‘B’). They were daunting opponents, out-grading us by more than 100 points per board. Nevertheless, we put in a fighting performance, and the final score rather flattered our opponents.
First to finish was Steve on board 3 who in a seemingly comfortable position, blundered away a piece and soon resigned (actually missed a simple combination losing an exchange and, so surprised he missed it also, promptly set up a simpler piece losing combination – it’s clearly going to be a long season! – Ed).
Next to finish was me on board 5 against Robert Whiteside. In a Morra Gambit, I emerged still a pawn up into QR+6 pawns against QR+5 pawns. However, I allowed him to get a pawn back, leaving him with passed a and b pawns. My passed d pawn was easily blocked and I was unable to stop his passed pawns powering through.
On board 4, Ramsey had an active position against Graham Smith, but got into time trouble, which proved to be too much for him.
Richard on board 2 always had be edge against Adrian Elwin. He gained a pawn, but could not find a way though against stubborn defending. Richard eventually offered a draw, which Adrian gleefully accepted.
That left Mike’s game against Dominic Bartram, which went on almost to the limit. It was a cracking game, where Mike always appeared to have the edge, but he went wrong in the rapid play – see below.
The results in full:-
| Board | Bedford B | Milton Keynes A | |||
| 1 (B) | 1949 | Botteley, Michael T | 0 – 1 | Bartram, Dominic | 2064 |
| 2 (W) | 1953 | Bodily, Richard T | ½ – ½ | Elwin, Adrian G | 2050 |
| 3 (B) | 1862 | Pike, Steve C | 0 – 1 | Tweeddale, Eoin | 2049 |
| 4 (W) | 1856 | Dairi, Ramsey | 0 – 1 | Smith, Graham | 1921 |
| 5 (B) | 1745 | Walker, Robert S | 0 – 1 | Whiteside, Robert | 1906 |
| Total | 9365 | ½ – 4½ | Total | 9990 |
Rob Walker, 5th October 2024
top board game added, annotated by Richard Bodily