When Luton-C team captain Des Welton selected his squad of five for the away match against second place Bedford-E team, three of the players were new to the Bedfordshire Chess League. That's because Des wants to give everyone a chance. It's not about winning, or losing the match. Or is it? In order of finish, this how the match went.
Board 3: Milen Stanchev (1450) v James Goodman (1500). Bedford-E captain James Goodman went for a Caro-Kann with an early Bf5 outside his pawn chain. Milen immediately challenged and then exchanged this Bishop leaving Black with an open h-file. This open file became crucial as White castled Queenside and Black Kingside, Milen set to work on controlling the h-file by advancing his pawns. Pieces were exchanged rsulting in a two Rooks, Knight and pawns endgame. James had gained a two pawn material advantage but was under attack from Milen's doubled Rooks on the now open h-file plus his Knight joining the attack. James tried to counterattack in the centre and appeared to have the upper hand, until a brilliant Rook sacrifice by Milen that resulted in a beautiful double check and mate at move 32. Bedford-E 0-1 Luton-A.
Board 2: Nigel Walker (1472) v Andrew Pye (1450). Right from the off Andrew played aggressively with the Black pieces, giving no indication that he had been absent from competitive over-the-board chess for decades. Nigel responded by developing sensibly and the set up he must have planned, connecting Rooks by his 10th move. Again, Andrew went for dynamics, shuffling his Knights and Queen trying to seek an optimal attack. Andrew's Knight invaded White's position on d3, forking Nigel's Rooks. Nigel countered with a Knight attack of his own against the White Queen, but this overlooked a Black intermezzo Queen pawn capture with check, before taking the aforementioned Rook with his Knight. At this point the game was all but won for Black by bringing his other Knight into the attack, which Andrew duly did - but not on the winning square! More exchanges, and both Queens came off the board, leaving an inbalanced White Rook, two Knights and pawns v Black two Rooks and pawns endgame. At this point, it was difficult to see a way through for either player, but somehow, Nigel skillfully brought his Knights deep into the Black defences, forcing Andrews Rooks to retreat to avoid capture. The game ended with a very neat Rook mate on h7 supported by his Knight on f6 and a win for the Bedford player. A thriller of a game! Bedford-E 1-1 Luton-C.
Board 4: Rishik Madhadi (1295) v RIchard Lewis (1350). In this Queens Pawn game, Rishik went for a Queenside attack, perhaps because Richard's had placed his Queenside Bishop Kingside in the opening. Richard complicated the game with his own Pawn and then Knight advance into Whites side of the board. After a flurry of exchanges, another endgame was reached. White was Knight and and pawns against Black Bishop and pawns. Black had connected pawns on both wings with a majority on his Kingside, and White had connected pawns on both wings plus an isolani heading down the centre. Richard captured the isolated centre pawn, and then the Knight, leaving Rishik with an impossible situation. Richard's pawns were now advancing Kingside, and if Rishik stopped these with his KIng, Richard would proceed to capture the Queenside pawns and advance on that flank and make another Queen. Bedford-E 1-2 Luton-C.
Board 5: Des Welton (1270) v Cedric Hylton (1300). By the time Luton-C were leading 2-1, Des and Cedric had reached yet another endgame, with Des decisively in the driving seat. Des had Rook and seven pawns against Cedric's Bishop and six pawns, two of which were doubled. Yet somehow, Cedrice had skillfully managed to lock the position such that Des was unable to find a way to make his Rook for Bishop advantage work. In the end, Des opted for swapping off pieces and making his extra pawn count. But after the exchange, Cedric gained the King opposition, and captured all of Des's Queenside pawns. With no chance of stopping one of Cedric's pawns of becoming a Queen, Des resigned in what surely must have been a disappointment for the Luton Captain. Bedford-E 2-2 Luton-C.
Board 1: Humayun Mirza (1626) v Lucian Cox (1674). Before the match I knew two things. I was likely to have to play against Lucian. And than Lucian is a superior chess player. The Art of War by Sun Tzu states, "If your enemy is stronger, you should evade them." So when Lucian played the Siclian Dragon, I was determined take him out of his preparation by swapping off the Bishop on g7 and snuff the fire out of his dragon. But in doing so, I had created an open b-file and then an open c-file and a permanent weakness Kingside by placing a pawn on f3 early in the opening. After castling on oppposite wings, our attention became focused on Black's d5-pawn, attacked by White's doubled Rooks, Bishop and Knight but seemed perfectly safe defended by Black's Rooks, Bishop and Knight. Something had to give, and I made the first overture to trade which seemed to be going well as I'd gained a pawn but I'd missed a neat bottom rank check that forced White to lose all of the Kingside pawns. So another endgame was reached: White Rook, Bishop and pawns vs Black Rook, Bishop and pawns. I had a passed pawn racing down the a-file; Julian had a passer heading on the opposite direction down the h-file. It looked as I could touch down first, but I was worried that Julian could sacrifice his Bishop for my a-Pawn afterwhich is h-Pawn could not be stopped. But running out of time, Lucian blinked first and allowed me to have connected pawns on a6 and b4 whilst his candidate pawn on h7 was being back by my King. Lucian played on for a few more moves before laying down his King and politely shaking hands.
Final result: Bedford-E 2-3 Luton-C
So well done Captain Des, who with this win, puts his team in third place in division 2, just above our more ambitious club rivals Luton-B! Next week, we're against top of division Milton Keynes-B.