Despite being heavily outgraded, by an average of more than 200 points per board, Bedford B came close to causing another upset against reigning Bedfordshire league champions Leighton Buzzard A on 13th February.
| Board | Rating | Bedford B | V | Leighton Buzzard A | Rating |
| 1 | 1949 | Botteley, Michael T | ½ – ½ | Tukpetov, Evgeny | 2286 |
| 2 | 1953 | Bodily, Richard T | 1 – 0 | Sharp, John R | 2173 |
| 3 | 1941 | Taylor, Alex | ½ – ½ | Kenworthy, Gary | 2092 |
| 4 | 1856 | Dairi, Ramsey | 0 – 1 | Hunt, Peter | 1973 |
| 5 | 1745 | Walker, Robert S | 0 – 1 | Law, Stephen | 2000 |
| Total | 9444 | 2 – 3 | 10524 |
Star of the show was Richard Bodily, with his win over John Sharp, probably his highest graded victim ever. See game below. Surprisingly this was Richard’s first win of the season for the team.
On top board, Mike had no fears against the mighty Tukpetov and got what seemed to me a relatively comfortable draw.
Alex had a steady draw against Gary Kenworthy.
Unfortunately, the bottom two boards could not match their teammates’ performances. Ramsey looked comfortable against Peter Hunt but again ran short of time. In the rapid-play stage he erred, and Peter won the race to queen a pawn. Ramsey’s concentration cannot have been helped by his opponent knocking over his drink (although most of this went over the adjacent board).
Stephen Law got a strong attack against me at the cost of two pawns but was unable to press home his advantage. I gave up my queen for rook and knight to gain counterplay, and should have had enough for a draw, but missed a perpetual check.
Rob Walker, 17th February 2025