The 93 year old annual Bedfordshire v Buckinghamshire county chess team competition, known as the Fleming Trophy match was on held on 30 November 2024.
For the second year in a row, players from Luton chess club returned to the ranks of the county team. Representing Luton were Faisal Rashad on board 5; Tommy O'Brien on board 6; Daman Singh on board 12 and Milen Stanchev on board 14.
First Luton player result was the board 6 match Andrew Tinker (1923) 0.5-0.5 Tommy O'Brien (1927). After exchanging one set of Knights and another set of Bishops, Tommy created a semi-open g-file, but the pawn structure was completely locked and with no obvious way to penetrate either side, a draw was agreed after 23 moves. At this point, Bedforshire were just about leading the match 1.5-0.5
Second Luton player result of the evening was John Wilkinson (1767) 0.5-0.5 Daman Singh (1750). Daman's opponent played a surprise opening that wasn't strong, but somehow, Daman blundered at move 5, allowing White to trap and capture his Rook on a8. Fortunately, Daman bamboozled his way out of the trap and swindled a draw at the 25th move. The match was now Bedfordshire 3-2 Buckinghamshire.
Next Luton player result was on board 5, the impressive newcomer Faisal Rashad (1958) 0.5-0.5 John Beadle (1968). This game had the same opening as on board 6 above but with colours reversed and a similar outcome. Faisal had the better position and potential on the f-file with doubled Rooks and a Knight ready to jump into action, but over the board, it wasn't a clear win so a draw was agreed at move 28. The result kept Bedfordshire's lead to 5-3.
The first three games for Luton had finished relatively early, but by the time Milen's game was reaching it's climax, the match was a tense Bedfordshire 6-5 Buckinghamshire. This was probably the most game with the most imbalance amongst the Luton players. Milen had castled long and his opponent tried to marshall his forces Queenside for an attack. Milen, similar to his last win for the league, had forced open the h-file for his own attack on the opposite wing. Deep into the middle game, White saw and grabbed free pawn on e6 with his Queen. But this was a deliberate deflection by Milen who then forced an exchange of Rooks on the bottom rank, then struck a fatal blow with his Queen and Knight to win material and the game. Ian Hall (1487) 0-1 Milen Stanchev (1421). After this win, Buckinghamshire finally buckled to the pressure and lost their remaining games, and the match.
Final result: Bedfordshire 11.5-5.5 Buckinghamshire. Fleming Trophy 2024 winners: Bedfordshire
A very pround moment for Luton chess club and Bedfordshire. The trophy is back on display at the University of Bedfordshire for students to see and hopefully be inspired to play chess at the club.