Commenting on the atmosphere of a chess match without being present is like reviewing a restaurant by observing the diners from the outside, whilst looking through the window. Relying upon the messages of the team, their scoresheets and Fritz, here is how the away match between Luton A v Leighton Buzzard B transpired from my perspective.
Board 5: Default 0-1 Alexandar Juhasz (1613). This was a game Aleks had been anticipating and looking forward to for weeks. What Aleks got was a big disappoinment of having driven the team to the match, only for his opponent not to show up. Hopefully Leighton Buzzard will be able to run a weekly chess club night, where another regular could stand in. Leighton Buzzard B 0-1 Luton A
Board 1: Thomas P O'Brien (1946) v Kevin Williamson (1847). Tommy, one of the most booked up players I've know, deployed an opening system from his repertoire I haven't seen him use before. Kevin countered by a Pawn advance to e5 to attack White's centre. There followed an exchange of centre Pawns, then both sets of Knights and Bishops, leaving a sterile position by move 18 when a draw was agreed. Leighton Buzzard B 0.5-1.5 Luton A
Board 3: Faisal Rashad (1727) v Peter Taylor (1810). Faisal, the newest player to the top team from Luton is a bit of a mystery. His only previous league match game at the club was a 55 move slugfest that reached an endgame. In contrast, this game was a quick knock out and can be played through by clicking on the link below.
This was the first won game for Luton A this season, in the tough division 1, and represents a step up for the team. Leighton Buzzard B 0.5-2.5 Luton A
Board 4: Ian Woodward (1781) v Marek Gladysz (1818). Marek's scoresheet wasn't available at the time of writing. I have been told that from the picture at the top of this post, the Queens, dark squared Bishops and b & c-Pawns were exhanged. White then captured Black's d5-Pawn with his Bishop, and Black countered by taking Whites unprotected e2-Pawn. Unfortunately, this left Black's Rook on a8 hanging and a loss for the Luton player. Leighton Buzzard B 1.5-2.5 Luton A
Board 2: Adrian Matthews (1809) v Julian Hudson (2019). This was a tactical encounter. Julian with the Black pieces played a system which left White with an isolated d-Pawn. Adrian shored up defences of his Isolani, and Julian countered by harrassing those defences with his Knights. Black had the Bishop pair, two contiguous pawn structures against White's three and seemed be cramping his opponent's position. Yet Adrian was able to use his light squared Bishop to attack Julian's Queen, chasing it from it's ideal square. Black's Queen moved out of danger, and White's Bishop chased again. Julian moved his Queen back and forth, and likewise, Adrian toggled his Bishop, resulting in a draw by threefold repitition.
Final Result: Leighton Buzzard B 2-3 Luton A
A fanatastic result from Luton A team, who won their first match of the season and put some clear points between ourselves and our closely matched rivals Leighton Buzzard B and Bedford B in division 1.