The first of the season’s Beds Div 1 local derbies ended in a resounding 4.5 – 0.5 win for Bedford A although, it should be said, that we rode our luck a bit to win by such a convincing margin.
| Board | Rating | Bedford B | V | Bedford A | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1949 | Botteley, Michael TG | 0 – 1 | G Ledger, Stephen C | 2125 |
| 2 | 1953 | Bodily, Richard TB | ½ – ½ | B Gardner, James | 2103 |
| 3 | 1941 | Taylor, AlexB | 0 – 1 | B Arulnandhy, Ravi | 2065 |
| 4 | 1856 | Dairi, RamseyG | 0 – 1 | B Collacott, Nick | 1970 |
| 5 | 1745 | Walker, Robert SG | 0 – 1 | G Habershon, Paul F | 1957 |
| Total | 9444 | ½ – 4½ | 10220 |
As per usual, my focus was on my own game so I didn’t see a lot of the others but from what I gather :-
- My own game (see below) turned into quite an interesting one, I guess, where I was eventually more or less forced into sacc’ing a piece which then turned out quite well.
- Board 2 didn’t appear to have too many fireworks and I thought white was maintaining a small white edge when I occasionally glanced over.
The final position, with Q,R,R,minor piece + pawns each seemed a little double-edged as W had passed a & b pawns, albeit on a2 & b2, but most of B’s pieces were attacking an e pawn whilst most of W’s were defending it and a draw was agreed.
- On board 3, Alex returned to the B team fold, as Mr Pike was unavailable, but it wasn’t that triumphant a return as Ravi won eventually.
- On Board 4, Ramsey went for the throat, castling Q-Side and flinging his g & h pawns up the board as Nick’s K remained in the middle. Nick managed to whip up some counterplay on the Q-side and Ramsey missed a tactic in time trouble, netting Nick an exchange and a pawn and, ultimately, the game.
- I think Paul’s was the smoothest effort as he always had the advantage and when I joined to watch he was a pawn up in a same coloured B ending, which was duly converted.
As nobody else deemed their game worthy of publication / didn’t send it to me then my effort is below :
Steve Ledger V Mike Botteley, 07/11/2024.
I always find Mike a tricky and resilient opponent and, as I said the last time I annotated a game against him (!), it’s not worth doing any sort of prep as you never know what he will play ! Usually it’s something slightly off-beat so, this time, I thought I’d play him at his own game and try something different myself 🙂- hence 1.b3 …
Steve Ledger, 11/11/2024.