Bedford B took on Milton Keynes B looking to bounce back from their heavy defeat in their opening match.
Things started off promisingly. Richard had a good position out of the opening and was able to get a knight in a strong outpost on d5. However, this was balanced by his opponent’s bishop pair. Neither side seemed to be willing to engage and the game petered out into a draw.
On board 4 Marc always had a slight advantage against Philip with additional space and creating a weakness by giving his opponent doubled pawns on the queenside. After patient manoeuvring Marc ultimately broke through on the kingside to force resignation.
Qais had a struggle against Graham on Board 5. Graham forced Qais to accept doubled pawns on f7 and f6 and place his knight on f5 and it was clearly better against a black squared bishop. Couple with active rooks, Graham was bale to put pressure on the kingside and win a vital pawn and then simplified the position to win the game.
I had an interesting game on Board 1. For much of the evening I had to defend a kingside attack and at one point had to resort to tucking my king behind the enemy pawn on h7. However with both rooks on the seventh rank guarding g7 and some vague threats on the queenside I thought I was going to wriggle free. It was not to be as king ended up being chased across the board, up the board, round the board, losing pawns in the process and the game was lost.
This left Paul needing to win on Board 2 to tie the match. Initially the signs looked promising with space on the queenside and a knight on b5 causing a nuisance. Adrian created some threats on the kingside before the time control, but Paul defended well and entered the rook and knight ending slightly better. In the final time scramble Paul played his knight to e7 but forgot Adrian’s knight could move backwards and take it. Paul was able to liquidate all Adrian’s pawns, but ultimately Adrian was able to take all Paul’s pawn and force all material off to draw the game.
Overall a 3-2 defeat, which leaves the B team winless.
Alex Taylor, 2nd December 2022