BCL Division 2 Thu 15th Dec 2022
| Board | Home | Bedford D | Milton Keynes C | Away | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (B) | 1844 | Pike, Steve C | 1 – 0 | Ward, George | 1773 |
| 2 (W) | 1508 | Cox, Lucian | 0 – 1 | Wells, Dave | 1682 |
| 3 (B) | 1499 | Dairi, Ramsey | 1 – 0 | Solloway, Colin J | 1656 |
| 4 (W) | 1455 | Griffiths, George | 1 – 0 | McKeon, John E | 1582 |
| 5 (B) | 0000 | Grimditch, James | 0 – 1 | Page, Michael | 1530 |
| Total | 6306 | 3 – 2 | Total | 8223 |
The D team enjoyed another good result, beating MK C 3-2, but were made to work hard for it.
Looking around the team after about an hour, all the boards looked quite balanced:- Lucian’s Giuoco piano was anything but quiet, both sides having advanced their g pawns and taken bishops displaying a curious interlocking double pawn setup on th h file; Ramsey had played his favoured Dutch and was defending effectively; George was playing his normal expansive stuff against a Scandinavian; James was playing a Sicilian against a very expansive Grand Prix attack that looked in danger of over-extending.
My own game proceeded steadily. George Ward’s Colle System threatened to clog the position up but suddenly he pushed his e pawn leading to a lot of exchanges. Upon completion of these, the White queen found itself in the middle of the board giving me some pleasant tempo gaining attacks and finally an exchange winning knight fork. The subsequent endgame was routine.
Meanwhile on board 4, our George had sac’d his rook on e6, somewhat speculatively, but effectively – see game below. John Mckeon struggled to find all the right moves and George wrapped things up nicely.
I must confess to not seeing the conclusion of boards 2 or 5. When I left (with mild frostbite!), I thought Lucian had weathered the storm but apparently not. James’s defence was looking tricky, facing a phalanx of 3 White pawns in the heart of his position so I wasn’t surprised to hear that he had succumbed.
Ramsey, as he often has done this season, showed great resilience and, after Colin turned down a couple of free pawns, worked up a nice attack (see below) which made the difference between the sides.
Steve Pike, 19th December 2022