Hard fought win for Derby A
On Tuesday (14/01/25) a full strength Derby A faced off against a Breadsall team who were missing two of their regular players.
John got an advantage in development and an aggressive attack out of the opening on the black side of a Scotch Gambit - before finding a creative piece sacrifice to produce a spectacular win in just 19 moves.
Steve channelled his inner Simon Williams/Tony Kosten, using his 'Iron English' structure to good effect and with some nifty tactics went two pawns up into a Rook and opposite coloured Bishop endgame. The experienced Andrew Toothill put up a dour defence in what was probably a lost position and in the mutual time pressure gradually equalised. Seeing the match situation Steve took the draw by repetition rather than risk pressing for more.
Kevin ended up in a wild position of opposite castled kings and mutual pawn storms. His opponent speculatively sacrificed a piece to add fuel to his attack. Having potentially negotiated the worst of the complications he succumbed to a tactic which gave back the piece and left him several pawns down. The subsequent ending was unsustainable.
My game followed a number of other games up to move 13 where I played a defensive move which prompted my opponent to overreach costing him a pawn without compensation.
An excellent match result which puts us into 4th place with games in hand over the teams above us.
| Derby A | 2½ - 1½ | Breadsall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tompson, John | 2070 | 1 - 0 | Molyneux, John | 2136 |
| 2 | Retout, Steve P | 2021 | ½ - ½ | Toothill, Andrew | 1910 |
| 3 | Dalley, Kevin J | 1845 | 0 - 1 | Jarvis, Derek A | 1910 |
| 4 | Williams, David | 1868 | 1 - 0 | Farrall, David J | 1852 |
Dave Williams 15/01/25