| Board | Rating | Open University | V | Bedford C | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1869 | Alexander, NO’D JamesB | ½ – ½ | B Taylor, Alex | 1941 |
| 2 | 1629 | Edwards, VincentB | 0 – 1 | B Shields, Callum T | 1765 |
| 3 | 1550 | Keane, Richard CG | ½ – ½ | B Potts, Alexander | 1706 |
| 4 | 1436 | Phillips, DavidG | 1 – 0 | G Avern-Love, Andrew | 1500 |
| 5 | 1281 | Osborn, MarkG | 0 – 1 | B Goodman, James | 1500 |
| Total | 7765 | 2 – 3 | 8412 |
Circumstances were inauspicious for the C team’s match against the Open University yesterday, as my usually reliable squad suddenly started dropping like flies. Mahmoud had long ago confirmed his absence; James Grimditch was unavailable for family reasons (we wish him well); Cedric, it turns out, had abandoned trudging up to Milton Keynes for flip-flops and pina coladas in the Caribbean.
In that context, it was already something of a victory that five players turned out. Credit must go to Alex Taylor, James Goodman and Andy Avern-Love for filling in as appropriate. Thank you also to Andy Evans for helping source players through his expansive talent network, and OU captain James Alexander for his sympathy with our collective plight and even offered a postponement.
The match itself was keenly fought. Callum seemingly won at a canter on board 2, the first time I even glanced at his game he was already a bishop to the good, and it didn’t last much longer after that. Alex on top board also fought his opponent to a draw, with from what I could see neither player ever getting that much of an advantage.
The reshuffled team meant I was playing on board 3, one lower than usual, but it didn’t really help me all that much! My opponent sprung a French defence on me, an opening I haven’t faced in years and it showed. My kingside attack fizzled out as all the pawns got blocked up with each other, and he offered me a draw. I spent a good twenty minutes trying to find a sacrificial breakthrough but in the end I just couldn’t pull the trigger and took the draw, keeping the team a point ahead.
Andy on board 4 had a somewhat tough game. Somewhere in the middlegame he went a pawn down, and it was a quality pawn as well. As it pushed into his position he was ultimately forced to give a bishop to quell the threat and the game was essentially over at that point.
Which left everything hanging on our last-minute replacement James, in a nerve-shredding bottom-board encounter that went seventy moves or more. When I’d finished my game he was in a rook ending, a pawn up. The rooks then came off leaving him six pawns on five, and I didn’t think it was all that difficult to convert the win. But he went down a much trickier line where pawns were racing on opposite sides of the board, and suddenly a fairly simple pawn ending was devilish position of queen & 2 versus queen. Onlooker consensus seemed to be that it was drawn but easily blunderable under pressure, and indeed his opponent slipped and allowed James to force a queen trade, handing both him and his adoptive team the win. Coolly played, James!
A great win for the C team, tempered slightly by the fact that I noticed our fellow strugglers Luton C also won their fixture on the adjacent tables. That sets up a titanic wooden-spoon decider next week. Good luck everyone…
Alex Potts, 18th April 2025