Bedford E vs Milton Keynes D, 2026: Second place league finished secured!
We visited Bedford for our final division 2 fixture of the season needing a draw or a win to secure second place behind the very strong Leighton Buzzard B team. The team did not dissapoint!
View the official results on the results page
Board 1 - Neil Hickman vs Thomas Evans
Thomas took white on board 1 against a slightly higher-rated opponent. While Thomas was not the last to finish this time round, he did once again find himself with under a minute left on his clock and playing blitz/bullet chess in the middle game. How he does it I’ll never know!
From sitting next to him, the position looked fairly even through much of the game with a balance of material. However, an overwhelming attack and mating pattern was found in the dying seconds of his clock which could easily have led to a different result.
Another thrilling game!
Result: Thomas Evans (W, 1715) won 1–0 against Neil Hickman (B, 1727)
Board 2 - Lucian Cox vs Dominic Watson
Lucian came out swinging in this game with a Smith-Morra Gambit against my Sicilian. Furthermore, he very aggressively gave up a bishop with the hope of a strong positional advantage. I took a long time to consider taking it, clearly worried this was some deep Smith-Morra prep but correctly calculated that it was a blunder:
After taking the bishop, I managed to hold my concentration and convert the result. This game went on a very long time and it felt like the entire clubroom was watching over my shoulder, expecting the win. A draw was offered somewhere near this position which had me doubting myself:
But I refused and traded off pieces leaving a simple winning pawn endgame with little time left on either clock. Great battling from Lucian offering plenty of traps for me to hang myself.
Result: Dominic Watson (B, 1710) won 1–0 against Lucian Cox (W, 1697)
Board 3 - R David Cox vs Richard Keane
I did not get a change to see this game in detail but another convincing win to add to Richard’s fantastic second half of the season.
Result: Richard Keane (W, 1614) won 1–0 against R David Cox (B, 1389)
Board 4 - Rishik Madhadi vs Rikin Burse
Rikin’s young opponent played a solid game under time pressure and came out with a draw. Again, I didn’t see the details of the match as was deeply focused.
Result: Rikin Burse (B, 1656) drew ½–½ with Rishik Madhadi (W, 1438)
Board 5 - Romeo Barbarino vs Mark Osborn
Mark kindly stepped in as a reserve one last time this season and secured his first win for us against the young Romeo. Thank you Mark!
Result: Mark Osborn (W, 1315) won 1–0 against Romeo Barbarino (B, 1300)
Wrap up
Congratulations to the whole team on a fantastic first season, with special thanks to Mark for stepping in and securing a win and a draw as reserve. It has been an easy and thrilling job captaining for you all for the first time.
Dom