Bedford derby ends peacefully!?

Bedford B Bedford A
Board Name Grade Score Score Name Grade
1 Marc Obi 166 0 1 Steve Ledger 190
2 Alex Taylor 163 ½ ½ Mike Botteley 178
3 Richard Bodily 168 ½ ½ Paul Habershon 177
4 Steve Pike 161 1 0 Andrew Chapman 175
5 Qais Karimi 140 ½ ½ James Gardner 173
12/10/2017

The B Team hosted the A Team in the opening fixture of the season.  Over the last few seasons the matches have been tight and the expectation was for another close encounter.

On top board, Marc faced Steve Ledger and it was to prove a bit of a struggle.  Out of the opening Steve managed to take control of the centre and in trying to avoid losing a pawn, Marc’s queen was chased from the queenside to the kingside and then back again.  In doing this, Steve lined his bishops, rook and queen against Marc’s king and there was only one outcome.

On board 5 Qais and James were engaged in an interesting tussle.  James sacrificed a couple of pawns in return for a strong attack against Qais’s king, which was stuck in the centre.  However, the knock-out punch was never quite there and Qais managed to survive into the endgame a pawn up and better chances.  Ultimately James was able to win back the pawn and the game petered out to a draw.

Board 3 saw Richard take on Paul.  With the white pieces Paul always had a slight edge, but Richard’s position was solid and there were no obvious weaknesses in it.  After a long tussle and lots of manoeuvring, a draw was agreed.

Alex played Mike on Board 2 and decided to make a right old mess of playing against the Sicilian defence.  Mike managed to get a knight on the c4 square which cramped white’s position.  However, Mike got a little too excited and a mis-timed e5 push allowed Alex to unwind his position and slightly turn the tables.  The double rook and bishop ending saw Alex a pawn up, but struggling to make progress.  A draw  was agreed.

Steve was having one of those evenings we have all experienced where you sit and grovel the whole game, struggling to avoid the positon collapsing. Andy had all the play in the game and it looked like a win was inevitable.  Somehow Steve clung on and the game went down to an ending where Andy won 2 Knights for a Rook, but in time trouble it was not easy to win.  In a tense finish, Andy lost on time.

[The reality was that the B team captain meekly took a draw despite being a pawn up meaning that the Editor had to win to save the match which he did heroically in the face of almost overwhelming adversity  *;) winking]

Final score was 2.5 – 2.5.  A solid start for both teams!

The top board encounter:-