| Home Team: Leighton Buzzard A | Away Team: Bedford A | |||||
| Board | Name | Grade | Score | Score | Name | Grade |
| 1 | Evgeny Tukpetov | 210 | 0 | 1 | Mindaugas Beinoras | 231 |
| 2 | Andy Tinker | 177 | 0 | 1 | Paul F Habershon | 177 |
| 3 | Stephen Law | 181 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Andrew J Chapman | 175 |
| 4 | John R Sharp | 174 | 0 | 1 | James Gardner | 173 |
| 5 | Peter Hunt | 170 | 0 | 1 | Qais Karimi | 140 |
| 0.5 | 4.5 | |||||
| Played: 24/04/18 | ||||||
An unexpectedly big win by Bedford A denied last year’s champions the chance to overtake Bedford B and retain their crown. Congratulations to Bedford B on their championship – we were delighted to help.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | Wins | Draws | Losses | Pen Pts |
| Bedford B | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 0 |
| Leighton Buzzard A | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 0 |
| Bedford A | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 0 |
| Milton Keynes B | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 12 | 17 | 0 |
| Milton Keynes A | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 0 |
| Luton | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 0 |
Travelling without Steve Ledger (too recently returned from Las Vegas) and Mike Botteley (Naples) we were just hoping not to flop as so often this season. The top two games are appended: Mindaugas was allowed a big centre and was always in control. I like the way his king found a safe haven at the end. I wasn’t expecting to play Andy Tinker and got into a tricky Benoni variation which I hadn’t mugged up on since a previous occasion against him. I used up lots of time grovelling but Andy can’t have found the most accurate moves. After a time I stopped hoping he would offer a draw as my position gradually improved.
Board 3 seemed to swing one way and the other, but eventually came down to a drawn rook ending. James on Board 4 won or was given the exchange early on and never relinquished that advantage. Super-sub Qais did the business again, turning down a draw, establishing a huge knight on e5 and finally delivering mate.
League Secretary Adrian Elwin and County Secretary Brian Valentine came along to watch the fun. County Captain Kevin Williamson arrived too late to see the carnage.
Paul Habershon 24/04/2018