Bedford A’s rather splendid start to the season continued as we notched up our 5th victory in a row with a fairly comfortable win over a heavily outrated Milton Keynes B team.
| Board | Rating | Milton Keynes B | V | Bedford A | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2041 | Bowler, Andrew | ½ – ½ | Ledger, Stephen C | 2119 |
| 2 | 1858 | Heath, Alan | ½ – ½ | Arulnandhy, Ravi | 2046 |
| 3 | 1976 | Senturk, N Ozan NE | 0 – 1 | Gardner, James | 2117 |
| 4 | 1829 | Ward, George | 0 – 1 | Collacott, Nick | 2035 |
| 5 | 1475 | Bhalla, Sumit | 0 – 1 | Dairi, Ramsey | 2043 |
| Total | 9179 | 1 – 4 | 10360 |
My own game was the last to finish and I had to concentrate hard for the whole game so didn’t see much of the others but from what I am told :
Ramsey, on bd 5, steadily outplayed his opponent and then swept in to win in clinical fashion.
Ravi, on bd 2, seemed to be doing well but as he moved in for the coup de grace on his opponents king he’d overlooked that Alan Heath could force a perpetual check.
James, on bd 3, played a nice game and was quite chuffed with his clever finish.
Nick, on bd 4, faced George Ward’s Colle system. When W opened up the centre prematurely Nick was able to saddle him with an IQP and then, shortly afterwards, Nick won a pawn although B did have some compensation. A few complications ensued, as W tried to mix things up, but Nick negotiated them successfully and eventually won a piece which was duly converted to a win.
My own game, against current Beds County Champion Andrew Bowler, toed and froed several times. Andrew played an early pawn sac, that he’d clearly prepared but I’d only looked at briefly a couple of years ago, and got a pretty nice position from the opening. He then decided to sac a piece for a couple of pawns and keep my K in the centre. I managed to grovel my way out, force Qs off and when I finally managed to activate my extra B I must have been winning but, running low on time, I managed to let B liquidate most of the board to end up with R,N,b & c pawns V R, b,c,d pawns but with the pawns on d3, c4 and b4 and my pieces squashed up in the corner. Computer say I had a couple of wins near the end but, with about 20 seconds left, I offered the draw.
So, 4-1 to Bedford it was. We now get to enjoy Xmas and the New Year before resuming battle in late January.
Steve Ledger, 05/12/2025.