BCL Division 2 Thu 2nd Feb 2023
| Board | Home | Milton Keynes C | Bedford D | Away | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (B) | 1773 | Ward, George | 0 – 1 | Pike, Steve C | 1844 |
| 2 (W) | 1682 | Wells, Dave | ½ – ½ | Evans, Andy | 1553 |
| 3 (B) | 1656 | Solloway, Colin J | 1 – 0 | Dairi, Ramsey | 1499 |
| 4 (W) | 1582 | McKeon, John E | 1 – 0 | Griffiths, George | 1455 |
| 5 (B) | 1530 | Page, Michael | 1 – 0 | Dairi, Mahmoud | 0000 |
| Total | 8223 | 3½ – 1½ | Total | 6351 |
The D team travelled to MK, confident after back to back victories had seen them top the table. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, but not for the want of the endeavour which is the hallmark of the team these days.
George was the first to finish. From what I saw, he was playing fairly aggressively (.. g5 etc) against a queen’s pawn opening but some exchanges in the middle led to his knight on h5 dropping off and, although he struggled on for a while, it was only ever going one way.
An inspection of the other games seemed quite promising however – Andy’s knights seemed to be buried deep in his opponents position; Mahmoud, making his team debut, was level on material but had an advanced h-pawn against his opponents castled king; Ramsey seemed comfortable against his experienced adversary.
My own game had gone a bit wrong (for a change!) out of the opening. Trying to make things happen in a rather passive Spanish, I had ended up with a doubled f5 pawn supported by an overly ambitious g4 pawn in front of my king. Grabbing a pawn on a6 with my queen was all the encouragement George Ward needed to throw all his pieces at me. Luckily he over-reached and, after surviving a few hairy moments, I was able to swap everything off reaching a winning ending.
Andy’s cavalier knights had given themselves up for a rook and pawn but the resulting position became very blocked and fizzled out to a draw.
Mahmoud made an inaccuracy and unfortunately lost a piece and the game. A respectable showing first time out however.
Ramsey’s game had progressed smoothly through middle into endgame, all the time having, in my view, a small edge. Unfortunately, a pawn was misplaced in the final exchanges and the pawn ending was lost.
Steve Pike, 3rd February 2023.