Bedford B reached the halfway point of their season with a drawn match against Luton A, to leave us in mid-table, well clear of the relegation position. However, we were disappointed not to have managed to win.
My game on board 5 was over very quickly. y opponent brought his queen out early, and then hemmed it in with his minor pieces. With loss of material inevitable, he blundered away his queen, and it was all over in 14 moves, when most of the other games had hardly got going.
Alex, Richard and Steve, then agreed draws in games where no-one looked to have any clear advantage.
| Board | Rating | Luton A | Bedford B | Rating | |
| 1 | 1946 | O’Brien, Thomas P | ½ – ½ | Bodily, Richard T | 1953 |
| 2 | 1727 | Rashad, Faisal | 1 – 0 | Dairi, Ramsey | 1856 |
| 3 | 1812 | Vora, Samir | ½ – ½ | Taylor, Alex | 1941 |
| 4 | 1688 | Joseph, Michael | ½ – ½ | Pike, Steve C | 1862 |
| 5 | 1665 | Jones, Dixon H | 0 – 1 | Walker, Robert S | 1745 |
| Total | 8838 | 2½ – 2½ | 9357 |
This left Ramsey. He had done very well to build up what looked like a winning position, but was running short of time. Unfortunately, he blundered in a queen and pawn end game, allowing his opponent to exchange queens and win the race to queen a pawn.
Rob Walker, 11th January 2025