Bedford B braved the coldest night of the year so far to head to Milton Keynes to play their “B” Team (AKA their A team in disguise). Although heavily outrated, we travelled in hope after our opening victory.
I had a slight wait to start my game as Eoin managed to go to Leighton Buzzard, but he arrived after 20 minutes and we were able to get on with the game. After a quiet opening things burst into life with the position opening up and Eoin’s queen became very active. I managed to get my queen on the seventh rank and create some pressure on the queenside, whilst trying to sure up my defences on the kingside. It was all a bit hairy, but once I forced queens off I looked slightly better, but chickened out and offered a draw.
The drama of the night occurred on Board 2 with Richard playing Dominic. It was a titanic, topsy turvy affair and it looked like both players had their chances! Richard looked to be under pressure out of the opening facing a nasty pin on his king, which was stuck in the centre. However, giving up his queen for two minor pieces appeared to give him an advantage, given Dominic’s lack of development, but a couple of mistakes at the end proved decisive.
[Ed – looked insane but fun to me!]
Ramsey seemed to have the better of the opening against Adrian and managed to win a pawn and quickly enter the endgame with that advantage intact, albeit at the price of no development (with Adrian only marginally ahead). Once Adrian had won the pawn back he seemed to have the initiative and entered a rook ending clearly better, although material was level. With an active king and rook Adrian was able to come through and win the game.
The battle of the Roberts on Board 4 was a struggle. Robert (W) with the black pieces ended up playing a line where he always seemed to be under pressure and unable to totally free his position. Exchanging pieces and heading for an opposite coloured bishop and rook ending did not really help the position as white had the more active rook and threats of mate/winning pawns eventually proved decisive.
Richard seemed to have a reasonable position for the periods of the game which I saw, with more space and more active pieces. However, there was no real clear-cut chances to break through. Unfortunately, towards the time control, time trouble set in and Richard managed to lose a piece and with it the game.
Overall the scoreline was 4.5 – 0.5 to Milton Keynes, which perhaps does not reflect the closeness of the matches. Next up it is the local derby against the A Team.
Alex Taylor, 6th December 2023