| Leighton Buzzard A | Bedford B | |||||
| Board | Name | Grade | Score | Score | Name | Grade |
| 1 | Gary Kenworthy | 2283 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Okwose Marc Obi | 1938 |
| 2 | Stephen Law | 2058 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Alex Taylor | 2050 |
| 3 | Peter Hunt | 2065 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Richard T Bodily | 1968 |
| 4 | Brian J Valentine | 1924 | 1 | 0 | Qais Karimi | 1949 |
| 5 | John R Sharp | 1945 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Robert S Walker | 1758 |
| 3 | 2 | |||||
| Played: 03/05/22 |
The B Team completed their season with a trip to Leighton Buzzard A knowing that they would finish fourth regardless of the result.
Marc kindly stood up to the challenge of facing Gary on board 1. Playing a Morra gambit he built up a really good position, but it was quite hard to see how to turn the advantage into a clear winning one. In the end, he opted for safety first and a draw (see attached game).
My game against Steve on Board 2 was a tight affair. From the opening, Steve had an isolated pawn on d4 and I managed to get a knight planted on d5. Steve countered by getting knights on c5 and e5 which threatened to strangle my position. After exchanges, it boiled down to a rook and knight ending and a draw.
Peter and Richard’s game on Board 3 never really sparked into life. Both players fianchettoed their kingside bishops out of a Sicilian opening and Peter managed to created some pressure down the c file, but once this had been neutralised the game rather fizzled out.
Qais played Brian on Board 4 and had one of those games we have all experienced. A miscalculation early in the game lead to the loss of a piece with little compensation. Although Qais tried to generate some counterplay, Brian calmly exchanged off pieces to simplify the ending and win the game.
Our super-sub Robert played John on Board 5 and the game turned out to be an interesting one. After a relatively quiet French opening, Robert played a temporary sacrifice which netted him a couple of pawns and a strong initiative against the black king. After queens came off, it looked like Robert’s passed e-pawn and rooks on the d file would be decisive. John flung his passed a pawn down the board, and this point things started to change as perhaps Robert made the wrong choice in how to stop it. In the end after exchanges, the game petered out into a draw.
A narrow 3-2 loss to end a trickier season than the B Team have experienced recently. However, the team had a couple of good wins and came close in other games. Many thanks to all who played this season.
Alex, 4th May 2022