Bedford players play on the county stage

Bedford Chess Club were represented at Sunday’s county matches against Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, with James, Mark and Paul all scoring points. Full results may be seen here.

James’ win against Cambridgeshire’s Norman Hutchinson is well worthy of a look:-

   [Event "County Match"] [Site "Newmarket"] [Date "2022.03.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Norman Hutchinson"] [Black "James Gardner"] [Result "0-1"]   1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 (5... Be7 {main line, botched my opening order again $1}) 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d4 {this is the problem with the opening order mess, now d6  is forced with a miserable queenless middlegame to follow} 7... exd4 $2 (7... d6 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Qxd8+ Bxd8 $14) 8. e5 $1 Ne4 9. Bd5 Nc5 10. Nxd4 Bb7 11. Nxc6 $2 {throws away all advantage} (11. Nf5 $1 O-O $16 {just a huge initiative for white, computer gives +2 already}) 11... dxc6 {important to gain a tempo on the bishop and open the d file} 12. Bf3 Ne6 {seeking to prevent Qe2 and Rd1, because of Nd4 threat} (12... Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Nd7 14. Re1 O-O-O $15 {best line, so logical when you see it}) 13. Nc3 {too casual, Nd2 much better plan for white} (13. Nd2 O-O 14. Nb3 a5 15. Qxd8 Rfxd8 16. a4 $14) 13... O-O 14. a4 b4 (14... Qd4 {stronger response}) 15. Ne4 $2 {Ne2 better, the knight stands in the way of the bishop now} 15... Qc8 $2 {again Qd4 was better, this was wrong plan, too focussed on playing c5 $1} 16. c3 (16. Bg4 c5 17. Nf6+ Bxf6 (17... gxf6 18. Bf5 $1) 18. exf6 Rd8 $14) 16... c5 17. Qc2 Rd8 18. Be3 Rd5 {a good move in all lines I looked at except in the line Nd2 $1} 19. Ng5 $4 (19. Nd2 Rd8 20. Bxb7 Qxb7 21. f4 $16) 19... Nxg5 20. Bxd5 Bxd5 21. Qd2 $4 {Qd2 hits two pieces at once but sets up a nice winning tactic. Even without the tactics though, black still stands a fair bit better after Qd8} ({had been calculating these f4 lines and looks scary although actually black is significantly better with a few careful steps} 21. Bxg5 Bxg5 22. f4 Be7 23. f5 c4 24. f6 gxf6 25. exf6 Bc5+ 26. Kh1 Qh3 $19) 21... Nf3+ $1 22. gxf3 Bxf3 {mate is unstoppable $1} *