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Bedford A turn things around

Home Team: Milton Keynes A Away Team: Bedford A
Board Name Grade Score Score Name Grade
1 Gary Kenworthy 202 1 0 Michael T Botteley 178
2 Graham E Borrowdale 193 0 1 Paul F Habershon 177
3 Graham Smith 188 0.5 0.5 Andrew J Chapman 175
4 Adrian G Elwin 183 1 0 Raymon Gompelman 173
5 Eric Meichel 158 0 1 Qais Karimi 140
2.5 2.5
Played: 07/12/17

For once Bedford A were on the right side of an upset. Travelling to Milton Keynes without our two strongest players we were outgraded on every board.

Andy was first to finish, agreeing a draw in a middlegame where he had seemed to be under pressure with an inferior pawn structure.

Then Mike went for broke but lost a tactical battle.

The remaining games all went beyond 35 moves. I was very fortunate to win (see game) after Graham Borrowdale failed to convert a winning position. I even gave him a second chance when I fancied attacking his queen before picking up the exchange he had blundered. Unsurprisingly the clock was a factor in our highly inaccurate sequence.

Raymon desperately fought on in an ending a piece down but was inevitably doomed.

This left Qais to perform the heroics and draw the match. He reached a rook ending a pawn up, eventually getting to R+P v R and a potential Lucena position. When he ensured that the enemy king was forced two files away from the pawn I thought he knew exactly what he was doing. However, after a lot of experimenting, he somehow contrived to win by another method. Exciting stuff for the spectators and an unexpectedly drawn match. Perhaps we’ll get our first win after Christmas.

2 Replies to “Bedford A turn things around”

  1. Correction: my report says the remaining games went beyond 35 moves, yet my game above ends after 34 moves. I omitted a repetition. White did not play 30 Rf2. The game went 30 Nf3 Qf5 31 Nh4 Qg5 (at this point I was fervently hoping Graham would repeat for a draw) 32 Rf2? Ng4 and we are on track to finish after 36 moves.

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