Bedford A suffered their first Beds League defeat for just over 2 years with a rather grim performance at MK on Thursday.
Alex Taylor filled in at the last minute when Ramsey was delayed travelling back from a school trip to London but MK were also missing a couple of regulars when Graham Smith and Dominic Bartram both pulled out.
Maye we were due a stinker or it was just one of those nights.
| Board | Rating | Milton Keynes A | V | Bedford A | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2046 | Tweeddale, Eoin | 0 – 1 | Ledger, Stephen C | 2119 |
| 2 | 2011 | Elwin, Adrian G | 0 – 1 | Arulnandhy, Ravi | 2046 |
| 3 | 1889 | Whiteside, Robert | 1 – 0 | Gardner, James | 2117 |
| 4 | 1976 | Senturk, N Ozan NE | 1 – 0 | Collacott, Nick | 2035 |
| 5 | 1829 | Ward, George | 1 – 0 | Taylor, Alex | 1921 |
| Total | 9751 | 3 – 2 | 10238 |
On Board 1, I thought I was doing fairly well from the opening but my adopted plan of a Q-Side attack was a bit slow and allowed B to improve the position of his pieces and start eyeing a K-Side attack. Realising things were slipping, I started trading a few pieces to limit B’s attacking possibilities. With an endgame looming, Eoin allowed me to get two rooks for the queen. I thought it was good for me, Eoin thought it was good for him but Stockfish say 0.00 !!!
In the event, Eoin then left a piece en pris which was certainly good for me 🙂- and the position was duly converted. As the last game to finish, I was rather hoping I’d bought home the bacon but the smile on Adrian Elwin’s face told me, alas, not.
On Board 2, Ravi managed to capitalise on Adrian Elwin’s fairly tepid opening but then nearly got his queen trapped before managing to escape the complications with 4 pawns for a piece. W then ran pretty low on time before missing a crucial pin which cost him the game.
On Board 3, James game was a fairly wild, albeit brief, affair. I’d imagine Rob Whiteside will be quite chuffed with his efforts.
Game below, comments by Steve L and Stockfish.
Rob Whiteside V James Gardner
On Board 4, Nick had to accept the slight W advantage from an exchange Slav and never really managed to generate much before dropping a key central pawn.
Nick nearly managed to get in a sneaky little trick in the endgame but with either great foresight or good luck, W managed to sidestep it and convert the win.
On Board 5, I didn’t see much of the game but Alex is still suffering from rust / lack of match practise and, I believe, dropped a pawn somewhere along the line and, eventually, the game.
So, sadly, 3-2 to MK A it was. My thanks to Alex for stepping in at short notice.
Next up is a top-of-the-table (both sides have now dropped 2 points) clash with Leighton Buzzard A on February 12th.
Steve Ledger, 24/01/2026.