After Bedford B’s creditable draw with Leighton Buzzard A last time out, it was touch and go against their B team on Thursday, before we emerged with the narrowest of victories.
| Board | Rating | Bedford B | Leighton Buzzard B | Rating | |
| 1 | 1949 | Botteley, Michael T | 1 – 0 | Williamson, Kevin J | 1847 |
| 2 | 1953 | Bodily, Richard T | ½ – ½ | Matthews, Adrian MS | 1809 |
| 3 | 1856 | Dairi, Ramsey | ½ – ½ | Taylor, Alistair | 1775 |
| 4 | 1862 | Pike, Steve C | 1 – 0 | Dorn, C Fred H | 1746 |
| 5 | 1745 | Walker, Robert S | 0 – 1 | Gallagher, Sean | 1604 |
| Total | 9365 | 3 – 2 | 8781 |
It was a packed club room with three Bedfordshire League matches being played simultaneously, and so it was difficult to see what was going on beyond the next board.
Richard had a solid game on board 2, with a slight initiative, but not enough to be decisive and he and Adrian settled for a draw.
Ramsey on board 3 looked to be struggling under a king-side attack, but he managed to survive for a draw.
In my game on board 5, my opponent was rattling through moves at a great rate, while I used up too much time trying to find a way out of a passive position. As a result, when the position finally opened up and I thought I had achieved parity, I was short of time and erred during the rapid play ending.
That left us needing to win both the remaining games to win the match. Steve on board 4 had been on top all the way through, and got down to being two pawns up in a rook and pawn ending. However, it was tricky with pawns queening for both. Fortunately, Steve kept his cool and managed to get the win (see below)
It was hard to see how Mike could win his game on board 1, despite having the initiative throughout. Fortunately, Kevin blundered in a rook and pawn ending, to give us the result, to my great relief.
Rob Walker, 9th December 2024