Bedford B still unbeaten

Home Team: Bedford B Away Team: Leighton Buzzard A
Board Name Grade Score Score Name Grade
1 Alex Taylor 163 0 1 Evgeny Tukpetov 210
2 Nicholas P Collacott 166 1 0 Stephen Law 181
3 Richard T Bodily 168 0.5 0.5 Kevin J Williamson 173
4 Steve Pike 161 0.5 0.5 Peter Hunt 170
5 Robert Walker 0.5 0.5 Brian J Valentine 161
2.5 2.5
Played: 07/12/17

A top of the table clash saw the B Team take on the mighty Leighton Buzzard A with Nick and Robert making their season debuts.

All the games were competitive and it proved to be a real nail-biter!

Richard and Kevin were first to finish. Out of the opening Kevin had a slight edge, but after a lot of exchanges the ending saw Richard holding a slight advantage with the bishop pair, but there was nothing clear-cut and a draw was agreed.

Nick had a strong game against Steve Law. He created pressure on the kingside and this led to the win of a pawn. Exchanges simplified the positon to a rook ending, where Nick’s active rook was able to penetrate the black defences and it was going to win further material when Steve resigned.

Steve was involved in an interesting battle on board 4 against Peter. He appeared to have a strong attack. A complicated position arose, but it suddenly simplified to a rook and pawn ending which was pretty level and a draw was agreed.  [In reality, I think I missed a strong move near the end and was subsequently fortunate that Peter accepted the draw – Ed]

My game on board 1 was frustrating. Worse out of the opening I managed to create some activity and with correct play probably had a draw. However, I went wrong and overlooked a trap which lost the game.

This left the scores level. Robert was fighting an epic rear-guard action against Brian on board 5. Despite being under severe pressure Robert managed to exchange pieces and reached a knight v bishop ending. Some ingenious defence allow Robert to prevent Brian making any further progress and a draw was agreed, which was a really impressive result

The overall score was 2.5 – 2.5 (mainly due to Nick and Robert – well played guys!).

The B team therefore reach Christmas unbeaten and ahead of the A team (for now)