| Bedford B | Leighton Buzzard B | |||||
| Board | Name | Grade | Score | Score | Name | Grade |
| 1 | Andrew Chapman | 175 | 1 | 0 | Peter Hunt | 166 |
| 2 | Alex Taylor | 164 | 1 | 0 | Peter Taylor | 154 |
| 3 | Steve Pike | 162 | 1 | 0 | Fred Dorn | 157 |
| 4 | Marc Obi | 161 | 1 | 0 | Andrea Eggenhoffner (TBC) | 126 |
| 5 | Joe Valerio | 157 | 1 | 0 | def. | |
| 27/10/2016 | 5 | 0 | ||||
The B Team faced Leighton Buzzard B in their second match of the season. Despite being so early, it counted as one of those proverbial “six pointers” in the fight to stay in Division 1.
Leighton Buzzard suffered an unfortunate late withdrawal, meaning that Joe (ably sitting in for Ravi) did not have to wield a pawn on Board 5.
On top board, Andy faced Peter Hunt and was faced with a typically aggressive opening. Andy’s position always looked solid, and having created pressure down the c file he managed to turn defence into attack. This culminated in first winning a piece and then with the threat of further material loss, Peter resigned.
On Board 4 Marc played a solid game against his opponent and had considerable pressure on the king side, which initially won a pawn. Marc maintained the pressure and eventually his opponent missed a tactical trick, meaning he was going to lose a rook for nothing, and duly resigned.
Whilst this gave Bedford a decisive 3-0 lead, could Steve and I add some extra game points?
Steve was enduring a difficult game for the second week running. An early exchange of queens left him with weak queenside pawns but with an open a file to try to use. At one point it looked like white’s minor pieces were going to cause havoc, but having neutralised this threat, a back rank mating threat allowed white to create a passed pawn on the a file. With some good defence a smidge of luck Steve managed to free his position, pick off the a pawn and push his queenside majority thereby winning the game.
In the battle of the Taylors on Board 2 I had managed to build pressure on the black position out of a Sicilian opening and had a space advantage. However, a slight inaccuracy allowed black to simplify into a queen and pawn ending. Although I still had an advantage, a win was not clear cut (if possible at all). Unfortunately for Peter he managed to move his queen to a square where
it could just be taken to lose the game.
The 5-0 scoreline was a little flattering but nevertheless a good win to get our season underway.