Bodley B start with narrow defeat

Leaving Cert commitments and gaps on higher teams have made for a new-look Bodley B this season, but after their first outing, there’s every chance they can emulate the impressive performances of the last two Bodley B teams.

There was a bit of a surprise in store when Drogheda declared a team ranging from 947 up to 1227; an average of over 1100 compared to ours of just under 700 pointed to an expected score of a half. When, after an hour, nobody was in any particular trouble over the board, let alone actually finished, expectations started to rise!

An hour later, things were still looking good – even though we had two clear defeats coming, all the games were still in progress, William had won a pawn on board 2 and Alex had his opponent pinned back on 1.

Richard was first to finish after eventually being overwhelmed by his opponent, who had managed not only to double up rooks on the second, but also to double up bishops on g3 and h3! Mate wasn’t long in coming, but in the post-game analysis, it emerged that only a few moves earlier, Richard had had a choice of two free pawns – one of which would basically have encouraged black to throw in the towel there and then, and one of which was the one Richard took. It’s a harsh game at times!

Ten minutes later, Mark followed, having long struggled against a dominant dark-squared bishop only, once it had been neutralised, to mis-count a passed pawn and end up having to give up a rook on it. At about the same time, Declan dropped a piece, but Alex had picked up a pawn – an outside passed pawn at that – and William had swapped off to a rook ending a pawn up, with better pawns and a more active rook and king all pointing to this being an exception to the idea that all rook and pawn endings are drawn. Alex picked up a piece and dealt ably with some back-rank mate threats to force his opponent’s resignation, Declan resigned shortly after and William queened, picked up his opponent’s rook and was one move away from mate when his opponent’s flag fell anyway; a rare example of a Bodley game which finished with a combined three minutes on the clock! Both William and Alex go straight in at the top of the new season’s High Fives for best win.

It gets harder before it gets easier, unfortunately, with Gonzaga next up on Wednesday week. A bevy of 1300s will be on the way out to the club before a relatively easy tie against a Naomh Barróg with a mere one 1000+!   The formative table, meanwhile, looks like this –