It was derby day at Bedford as the A Team hosted the B Team, with both teams looking to bounce back from defeats to MK B in their previous matches. Both teams had enforced changes so the match looked an intriguing one.
I was up against Steve on Board 1 and managed to muddle my systems against the Benko, although initially not any great detriment. However, once I overlooked an exchange of Steve’s black squared bishop for my defensive knight my position deteriorated quickly. Losing my a pawn left my queenside very weak and attempts to counter just made things worse!
Richard’s game against James on Board 2 looked level for all of the opening and early middle game with exchanges leaving both players with queen, rook and a bishop pair. James grabbed a pawn on b7 and after that Richard was able to counter, win back the pawn and create a passed pawn on the a file. Having exchanged rooks and forced off queens, Richard was then able to force off the black squared bishops, leaving the pawn a free run to queen.
Ramsey seemed to do much of the pressing in his game against Paul on Board 3 and found himself having an attack on the kingside. Paul was defending resolutely and found himself a knight for a couple of pawns up, but having to defend carefully to avoid being swamped on the kingside. Paul was able to push his centre pawns and establish a pawn on d2 and was then able to win more material and the game.
Board 4 saw Robert take on Callum. Out of the opening Callum was trying to press, but his pieces seemed to lack coordination. Although slightly better Robert was not able to see a clear plan (his words!) and as Callum continued to press the advantage slipped away. Callum then won material and was able to convert this into a win.
On Board 5 saw Andy take on Alex. The game looked very level out of the opening and Alex then tried to generate an attack on the kingside by moving his rook to the h5. This proved a tempting target for Andy, who played g4, but forgot his h3 pawn was not defended! This lead to him having to give up his queen for a knight and rook, but the decisive thing was that Alex was able to create two kingside passed pawns and once he had simplified (which took a while due to dogged defence) he was able to push the h pawn, tie Andy’s pieces up and then win the game.
The final score was therefore 4-1 to the A Team.
Alex Taylor, 8th December 2023