The B Team entertained Milton Keynes B in their last match of the season. A win would give the team a third place finish, but given the narrowness of their victory in the reverse fixture, it was going to be a tough match.
Tough it proved to be. Both Chris and Alex made mistakes early in their games and found themselves a pawn down for much else. Marc and Steve were looking level in their games, whilst John was building up a strong position against George Ward on the bottom board.
Boards 2 and 3 finished soon after each other, both in disappointing fashion. Having lost the exchange in addition to a pawn, Alex tried to make something with a bishop pair, but a final blunder meant a tame defeat. Marc found himself under pressure with his opponent having much more space and attacking chances on the kingside. All this proved rather academic as Marc kindly self-trapped his queen to leave the B team 2-0 down.
The team was fairing slightly better on the other boards. Towards the time control Steve managed to take advantage of an oversight by his opponent to leave himself a rook up. Skilfully avoiding perpetual check meant that he pulled a point back for the team. Chris had held his position well into the endgame, but ultimately his opponent was able to create a passed pawn on the queenside and there was no way of stopping it. The last match to complete as on Board 5 where John’s advantage has dissipated and in the last full minutes he lost a piece, and pawns were being pushed on both sides of the board. A final error by George allowed John to escape with a draw.
Overall a 3.5 -1.5 defeat, which was a rather downbeat way to end a really positive season for the team.