Milton Keynes B vs Bedford E, 2024: Great Escapes!
Another resounding victory by 4 ½ points to ½ point, but it could have been so much closer!
Board 1 - Lucian Cox vs Andrew Bowler
The opening of this game was a very sharp variation of the Scotch Gambit. Lucian chose a line that is theoretically dubious for white, and things got worse on move 11 when he made a error that resulted in the loss of a piece. Precise play after that produced a win for black after 29 moves. The following position occurred after Lucian had played 14.Qg4.
Now, after the obvious 14… Qxa8, white plays 15.Bh6 threatening mate. Black has nothing better than 15… g6 after which white can take the rook, and, although black is better, there is still a lot of play in the position. (Note that if, instead of taking the rook, white plays 16.Qh4, with the idea of playing 17.Qf6, then 16… Qd8 leaves black a safe piece up.) I briefly considered 14… h5 to deflect the white queen, but after 15.QXh5 QXa8 I was concerned about 16.Bh6!? gXh6 (16… Qc6 is safer) 17.QXh6, when white is threatening perpetual check and the bishop on a6. I didn’t like this, but the engine assures me that black is winning after 17… Qd8!, but I didn’t see this move. I also considered 14… f5, the best move in the position, but rejected it as I thought white was saving the bishop after 15.eXf6 QXf6
16.Bd5+, overlooking the overwhelming pressure black has on f2, largely because I still thought there was a black pawn on f5! Eventually I found, and played, the interfering move 14… e3, and after 15.BXe3 BXe3, Lucien decided to save his bishop with 16.Bc6 (16.Be4 is better, but still lost after 16… Bb6) missing 16… Qd4!, which wins a pawn. After 17.Qf3 QXb2 18.Rd1 Bd4, the win was relatively straightforward.
Board 2 - Alan Heath vs Richard McMorran
This was a careful maneuvering game resulting from a Closed Sicilian, which looked like it would end in a draw. However, with doubled pawns on the king side and a potentially weak pawn on d5, Alan needed to be careful, as any end game would have been difficult for him. When Richard created pressure with his heavy pieces down the f-file, Alan was force to trade down into a worse rook ending. When Alan’s d-pawn fell it seemed that Richard was well on the way to victory. I then went to look at the other games, and when I returned the rooks had come off and Alan had a winning pawn ending, which he went on to convert. I don’t know how this happened, but it was a remarkable escape!
Board 3 - Nigel Walker vs George Ward
The first game to finish. The opening was a Slav Defence, and when I last looked at it George was drumming up a few threats on the white king. I don’t know what happened after that as they were soon putting the pieces back in the box, with George winning.
Board 4 - Thomas Evans vs Kryzsztof Kapustnski
Thomas played 2.b3 against the French Defence and after Kryzsztof played 2… c5 the game had transposed into a b3 Sicilian. Thomas produced a strong breakthrough in the centre which resulted in him winning a pawn. Then a nice temporary queen sacrifice won a second pawn and, despite some wriggling by his opponent, Thomas was able to bring home the point with some good play.
Board 5 James Goodman vs Sumit Bhalla
When I looked at this game early on Sumit’s pieces were in a bit of a tangle on the king side, and I thought he might lose one of them, but he survived, only to lose three pawns on the queen side. Although the game was winning for white, Sumit put up stiff resistance and managed to round up the extra pawns through various tricks with his knight. At one point I thought James’ knight might be in trouble, but eventually things simplified down to a knight ending with two pawns each on the king side. At this point the players agreed to a draw. A topsy turvy game, and a great escape by Sumit.