A Team Maintain Winning Streak
On Thursday (06/02/25) Derby A faced Rolls Royce A for the second time in a couple of weeks. For a long time we seemed to be losing but Gina, on her debut turned the tables and brought home a narrow victory.
John won a pawn early on in the white side of a Queen’s Gambit Declined. He kept a grip of the only open file and, with his opponent struggling for space (and moves), clinched another pawn to prompt resignation.
Steve played the Dutch Defence and faced the dangerous 2. Bg5. Following some games of GM Andreikin he used the less popular 2…c6 followed by 3…Qb6, and then took a couple of 'poisoned pawns' on a2 and b2 but gave white a big lead in development. He missed a possible chance to consolidate and Eddie broke through with a knight pseudo-sacrifice and impressive mating attack.
Gina launched an aggressive king side attack which Ran managed to blunt. He then won a pawn and they entered the endgame with Queens and opposite coloured Bishops. However, Ran's king was more vulnerable and Gina managed to force the exchange of Queens and create a passed pawn which couldn't be stopped.
I missed a tactical chance to gain a strong advantage in an English opening and the game petered out to a draw.
With this match, the A Team recorded its third consecutive 2½-1½ victory!
| Rolls Royce A | 1½ - 2½ | Derby A | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stevens, Andrew | 1967 | 0 - 1 | Tompson, John C | 2080 |
| 2 | Bromilow, Edward T | 1758 | 1 - 0 | Retout, Steve P | 1934 |
| 3 | Nath, Ranjit | 1775 | 0 - 1 | Morea, Georgiana-Steluta | 2040 |
| 4 | Hill, Maurice J | 1711 | ½ - ½ | Williams, David | 1877 |
Dave Williams 07/02/25