Bedford A V Milton Keynes B, Thursday 11th April.
| Board | Home | Bedford A | Milton Keynes B | Away | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (B) | 2097 | G Ledger, Stephen C | 1 – 0 | B Tweeddale, Eoin | 2090 |
| 2 (W) | 2088 | G Gardner, James | 1 – 0 | B Bartram, Dominic | 2063 |
| 3 (B) | 2085 | B Arulnandhy, Ravi | 0 – 1 | P Elwin, Adrian G | 1952 |
| 4 (W) | 1978 | G Habershon, Paul F | 1 – 0 | G Smith, Graham | 1946 |
| 5 (B) | 1971 | B Collacott, Nick | 0 – 1 | G Bowler, Andrew | 1747 |
| Total | 10219 | 3 – 2 | Total | 9798 |
Bedford A finished off their Beds League season with a satisfying victory over Milton Keynes B (though their 1st team) last night, to all but seal 2nd place, behind Leighton Buzzard A, in the League.
I didn’t see a whole lot of the other games but Ravi was first to finish. When I glanced over earlier I thought it was pretty levellish so assumed they’d agreed a draw
but evidently something had gone wrong and Ravi had lost.
On top board, Eoin repeated his pet opening, the Wing Gambit e4 c5 nf3 nc6 b4 !?!?, that I’d just about managed to overcome last year.
I sort of wished I’d done my homework, ahead of the game, but went for a simple plan of take the pawn, try and swap all the pieces off and be a pawn up.
This cunning plan worked quite well, as after 22 moves we were in a N + B each ending with me a pawn up. I eventually managed to squeak home when Eoin got his pieces in a bit of a tangle.
When I popped downstairs to get a pint and have a quick chat with a few folk, Nick had (I think) 3 or 4 pawns for a piece and white’s pieces were all on the back rank. Sadly, when I returned, Nick was just about to get mated 🙁-
Moving to board 2, James’s game looked a right mess with black’s king halfway up the board with plenty of pieces still present. It looked like the sort of position that James must have sacc’ed something to get said King up the board …. but he hadn’t. Dunno if Stockfish will find a flashy mate but James opted to swap lots of things off to emerge an exchange and a pawn up whereupon black resigned. Game below.
So, 2-2 with Paul plugging away against Graham Smith. Game below, to speak for itself, as Paul brought home the bacon.
Steve Ledger, 12th April 2024
and the board 2 game, Gardner V Bartram :
I was particularly pleased to find queen f5 on move 22, even stronger than bishop takes f7. But not pleased with the finish which I’d like to have ended in a checkmate! (I think 29.Qxb7! forces mate in 4 but not sure many sentient beings are finding it – Ed)