Last month Milton Keynes B scored a whitewash win against Luton C, our club development team. Earlier this week, they encountered the only team in division 2 who could match them on ratings, the very ambitious Luton B team.
Captain Dixon just back from New Zealand at the weekend was keen to get back into action and fielded the strongest team possible, 1.Samir Vora (1812), 2.Marek Gladysz (1818), 3.Michael Joseph (1688), 4.Dixon Jones (1665) & 5.Aleks Juhasz (1613). The visitors came in with their best on board 1.Andrew Bowler (1887), 2. George Ward (1780), Dominic Watson (1726), Sumit Bhalla (1435) & the strongest newcomer to BCL this season on board 5, Guiseppe Spigapiena (1992).
At the Milton Keynes B v Luton C match last week, the Luton side were beaten with losses on all boards by 9.30pm. Luton B are made of tougher stuff, and all games were still ongoing and too close to call after 10pm.
First result was on board 1. Andrew Bowler 1-0 Samir Vora. This was one the most dramatic clash of the evening. In my match game against Andrew Bowler last month, I was busted in 20 moves. Samir is a much stronger player, was better prepared, and was going to toe to toe with Andrew in the opening. Into the middle game, Andrew was slightly better but wasn't able to press to build on his advantage. As the game went deeper into the middle game, Samir slowly but surely drew level, then created a decisive advantage on move 35. Andrew didn't see the danger and on move 38, it was all but over with Fritz engine screaming Black is ahead by 10 points! But Andrew isn't the strongest player in division 2 by accident, and deceived Samir with a counter attack on the opposite wing. Samir fell for it, and tried to shore up rather than press on with his advantage. Over the next few moves, Samir's advantage disappeared and soon, he was defending a lost position and resigned on move 54. This game will be posted on the selected games section of the website. Luton B 0-1 Milton Keynes B
I was too absorbed with the board 1 match and can only give a sketched report the results of the remaining games.
Board 2.Marek Gladysz 0.5-0.5 George Ward after 41 moves in a close and accurately played game by both sides.
Board 4.Dixon Jones 0.5-0.5 Sumit Bhalla. Dixon had a pawn advantage most of the game, but as the endgame approached and the time ran out, the fortunes for both sides swung back and forth until it was a draw.
Board 3. Dominic Watson 1-0 Michael Joseph. Very close and deep into the evening and in the endgame, Dominic got Michael into Zugswang which used up all of Michael's time on his clock until he ran seconds and lost.
Board 5. Giuseppe Spigapiena 1-0 Aleks Juhasz. Aleks made a mistake in the opening, at the cost of a pawn and was struggling to hold his position thereafter but fought gamely on until the end on move 36.
Final match result: Luton B 1-4 Milton Keynes B.
A slightly flattering scoreline for the opposition. What if Samir had won on board 1? What if Dixon wasn't jet lagged from travelling from the other side of the world? What if Michael hadn't lost on time? What if their board 5 played on the board according to his true playing strength? The teams meet again next year.