| Board | Rating | Bedford E | V | Luton C | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1674 | Cox, LucianB | 0 – 1 | G Mirza, Humayun | 1626 |
| 2 | 1472 | Walker, Nigel BB | 1 – 0 | B Pye, Andrew | 0000 |
| 3 | 1500 | Goodman, JamesB | 0 – 1 | B Stanchev, Milen | 1450 |
| 4 | 1295 | Madhadi, RishikG | 0 – 1 | B Lewis, Richard | 0000 |
| 5 | 1300 | Hylton, CedricG | 1 – 0 | G Welton, Desmond S | 1270 |
| Total | 7241 | 2 – 3 | 4346 |
A wild night at the North End Social Club saw Bedford E continue our losing streak. With several core squad members unavailable Rishik and Cedric kindly stepped in last minute to fill our tables.
Game of the night was a toss-up between Cedric’s performance on board five, coming from a piece and a rook down to win; and Nigel who, having lost a rook to a knight fork was on the verge of resigning only for his opponent to blunder allowing Nigel to finish it off with an Arabian mate.
On Board four Rishik put up a strong fight but found himself a piece down before resigning.
Lucien on Board one fought a long battle but couldn’t quite hold on in a rook and pawns endgame where his lack of time meant he wasn’t able to be his usual precise self.
On board three, I deployed the Caro Kann defence (with a few dodgy moves of my own chucked in). Despite this ad-libbing, I felt I went into the middle game ahead (to which one quick-witted club member responded ‘you’re always ahead, until you’re not.’ – fair point). I then rather recklessly castled kingside with an open a-file allowing my opponent just enough space to force a mate (although the engine does suggest I could have repelled the attack with best play).
Bedford E have a couple of weeks off now to lick our wounds after the mauling from Milton Keynes B last week and the slug fest against Luton C this. We will be back – older, but probably no wiser
James Goodman, 15th November 2024