Milton Keynes C vs Milton Keynes D, 2025: Deadlock at the OU
A closely contested match that ended in a hard-fought draw, with both teams showing their fighting spirit. We unfortunately defaulted on board 4 which found us having to scramble for a result. Every other board was fiercely contested, and the final result could have gone either way. View the official results on the results page.
Board 1 - Thomas Evans vs John McNamara
An exciting ending to a Sicilian where Thomas traded a bishop for a Knight, doubling black’s pawns in the centre. Thomas found himself low on time and played superbly under the pressure and where both players were abandoning pawns with the hope to promote first. When the dust settled, John’s two pawns to Thomas’s lone pawn were not enough for the win, but secured a draw with seconds remaining on each clock. The final few moves ended in a position which hopefully I recall correctly, with black to play:
Black secured the draw after … c6 a4 a5+ Kxa5 Ka3
Board 2 - Dave Wells vs Dominic Watson
I tried something a little different in this game and found a comfortable opening position that mostly played itself after:
- d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 Qc7
This early queen outing looked odd to me when looking into this opening, so thought it was worth exploring. It turns out to be fairly straight forward and allows for a comfortable position.
The middle game progressed and after we finally started exchanging pieces after 14 moves, I found myself with the bishop pair vs two Knights but with the board looking like it might get locked up with pawns favouring the Knights. I made what I thought might have been a dubious decision to double my pawns instead of exchange with a piece in this position:
My thinking was that white had been prevented from playing e4 the whole game and I could continue to hold on to that square with e6xd5 and look to free my bishop later in the game. The engine prefers taking with the Bishop, of course.
Play continued with black enjoying a space advantage and we found ourselves in the following position where Dave found a position to double my pawns after taking on h6 which I decided to go for, feeling that I could get my King into white’s position easier and use the tempo granted by my a pawn to get an advantage.
The play continued and while the position was drawn, it demanded accuracy for white without much risk for black and I was fortunate to come out on top. The win came after this position in which Dave chose the wrong path for his King (moving it to h3):
Board 3 - Richard Keane vs Colin Solloway
In Richard’s words:
I should have done a lot better. I blundered on move 16. Enough said. I gave away a pivotal pawn. I moved too quickly especially against a player I’ve had a tough time against in the past. Shame. I thought I had a decent position and blew it in one move. Very unlike me recently. Lots to be encouraged by though.
Looking at the board in the latter stages, Colin had a clear advantage from the pivotal pawn loss, with a passed pawn up. Richard made Colin work for the win and battled hard.
Board 4 - Michael Page vs Florin Hristea
An unfortunate no-show led to a point to the C team. Apologies to Michael for the wasted trip!
Board 5 - Olajide Mabogunje vs John McKeon
I didn’t get a good chance to see this game. When I looked over the board in its middle game, it appeared to be a quiet position. A blundered rook from John saw a quick resignation.
A great win for Jide’s first team play match, congratulations!