Alex’s puns are worse than mine!
| Board | Rating | Bedford E | V | Bedford C | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1661 | McMorran, Richard | 0 – 1 | Shields, Callum T | 1747 |
| 2 | 1500 | Goodman, James | ½ – ½ | Potts, Alexander | 1683 |
| 3 | 1438 | Madhadi, Rishik | 0 – 1 | Darmendra, Shivadharshan | 0000 |
| 4 | 0000 | Steve Muir | 0 – 1 | Walker, Nigel B | 1446 |
| 5 | 1300 | Barbarino, Romeo | 0 – 1 | Graf, Francesco | 0000 |
| Total | 5899 | ½ – 4½ | 4876 |
Another local derby took place this Thursday, as Bedford’s C and E teams locked horns. There has always seemed to be a debutant somewhere in the second-division matches this season, and so it was again as Steve Muir (who only turned up for the first time a week ago!) was fast-tracked in to the E team to fill a hole left by the absences of two generations of the Cox dynasty. This did leave the E team a little bit light, but on paper the match-up didn’t look too lop-sided, especially since so many of the participants were fresh faces whose true strength isn’t yet known.
Boards 5 and 3 both finished pretty quickly. On board 5 both Francesco and Romeo blitzed out their moves, with Romeo seemingly blundering his queen after only a dozen or so moves – not much to report beyond that. (Romeo, I notice, played very quickly -perhaps he should slow down a little and invest some time in the think tank!) On board 3, Rishik was never allowed to castle, and Shiva pounced on the vulnerable king to end the game very quickly. Rishik is still improving quickly and I’m sure will learn from these kinds of defeats (game below).
So that left the C team 2-0 up very quickly and a mountain for the E team’s other players to climb on the remaining boards, whose games were much more competitive. Nigel and newcomer Steve were next to wrap up on board 4, with Nigel maintaining an edge throughout most of the game until it got down to an ending with two rooks apiece, at which point he was able to force Steve’s king out into the open and deliver a ladder mate. I’m so pleased that it was Nigel who took us over the winning line, as he was coming off a tough couple of defeats and seemed a bit downbeat over it. In typical Nigel fashion he still complained that it “could have been cleaner”, but take the wins however they come, Nigel! As for Steve, he was apparently very strong in his youth and I’m sure he’ll find his footing quickly if he keeps playing.
Callum and Richard on board 1 played what looked like quite an even game, with the queens coming off early. Callum found a tactic to win an exchange by exploiting Richard’s weak back rank, and from that point on it was seemingly just a mop-up job, with Richard doggedly playing on until checkmate. Indeed, Callum’s mating move was seemingly unintentional, with both players staring quizzically at the board for a few seconds before realising what had happened and shaking hands – a bizarre end to an otherwise solid win for Callum. For those keeping score, the C team are now 4-0 up.
Which left the two captains facing off on board 2, with the whitewash a very live possibility. I tried to get James out of his comfort zone with a Dutch stonewall, an opening I’ve never played before – but of course, this also forced me out of my comfort zone and James got a positional advantage with a very dominant central knight. Through grovelly moves and some resourceful queenside counterplay I was eventually able to fight off the pressure, and the more material came off the board the better it got for me. Eventually we entered a rook endgame with the material still even, but his rook being hopelessly passive. I couldn’t see a breakthrough and eventually caved to James’s rather persistent draw offers; only for some spectators to point out a fairly trivial win that both of us had missed in time trouble. Ugh, so frustrating! – but well played to James, he was bossing most of the game a draw was probably a fair result.
So that left the final scoreline at 4.5 – 0.5 to the C team, a result that probably flatters us a little. It must be noted that the E team was rather depleted, and with a full squad to choose from it would probably have been closer. For now the C team go back to the top of the league, already equalling the three victories we achieved across the entirety of last season. For the E team, I’m sure things will turn around soon – they just need that one win for their season to achieve lift-off.
Alex Potts, 8th November 2025