| Home Team: Bedford B | Away Team: Leighton Buzzard A | ||||||
| Board | Name | Grade | Score | Score | Name | Grade | |
| 1 | Chris Hill | 159 | 0.5 | 0.5 | John Sharp | 207 | |
| 2 | Alex Taylor | 160 | 1 | 0 | Steve Law | 193 | |
| 3 | Richard Bodily | 164 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Andy Tinker | 174 | |
| 4 | Gerry Nolan | 150 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Peter Hunt | 165 | |
| 5 | Joe Valerio | 155 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Adrian Matthews | 163 | |
| Date Played: 05/03/2015 | 3 | 2 | |||||
After two good away victories, Bedford B faced a stern home match against Leighton Buzzard A. However, after a good overall draw in the match earlier in the season the team were full of confidence, despite being well out-graded on every board.
The match proved to be a tight, gripping affair, although perhaps not if you were on the bottom two boards…
Gerry’s game on Board 4 against Peter Hunt and Joe’s game on Board 5 against Adrian Matthews followed a similar pattern – an early exchange of queens and a quick simplification leading to draws being agreed before move 20.
Richard’s game against Andy Tinker on Board 3 was a close affair. Despite being hampered by the traditional bad white-squared bishop in a Queen’s Gambit declined, Richard’s position remained solid with no obvious weaknesses and the team gained another half point when a draw was agreed.
This left the top two boards in play, with both Chris and I have solid positions. For once, I remembered some opening theory in the Ruy Lopez to come out of the opening in reasonable shape, but in the middle game faced some serious pressure on my f2 pawn and then a general queenside pawn thrust. However, I maintained some pressure on the e file, and Steve Law made a seemingly innocuous pawn recapture, which allowed me to win a piece and force an immediate resignation.
So, with just Chris’s game to finish Bedford held an unassailable 2.5-1.5 lead – but could we convert to victory? Despite his opponent having a clear space advantage and the benefit of a bishop pair, Chris had no obvious weaknesses in his position. Once rooks and a pair of bishops had been swapped and the slight mutual time scramble negotiated, the position had come down to Q,N + 5 pawns against Q, B + 5 pawns. The only question was whether white could make use of his queenside majority. Some deft play neutralised this threat and a draw was agreed.
Overall, a fantastic victory for the B Team, which also gives our A Team the league title. The local derby should therefore be a cracking affair at the end of the month – what are the odds on a B Team victory?
Alex Taylor 06/03/2015