C Team Finish Season taking 2nd Place (but beating the Champions!)
On Tuesday (22/4/25) Derby C faced off at home against the league leaders Burton and Lichfield C. Going into the match we were in second place in the table and this was the last match of the season for both of us. Unfortunately, no matter what happened we couldn't change the final division placings - but we were playing for pride having lost 3-1 against them earlier in the season.
Carl on board 1 came out worse from the opening in his match but managed to recover a pawn and fight back to a fairly even game. In the end game he managed to grab an extra pawn leaving him with two passed pawns in the centre which was too much for his opponent who resigned.
I took the lead in my game and looked to be heading towards a fairly convincing win. Unfortunately, time trouble hit me (again!) and resulted in a blunder in the end game leading to my eventual loss.
Andre managed to go an exchange up about half way through the game. He retained the advantage through the rest of the game. The game ended in a win with a nice combination from Andre, which forced his opponent into a knight fork between the King and
Rook.
Sam’s opponent attacked his queen side with a barrage of pawns, queen, bishop and rook. However Sam weathered the storm and won a couple of pawns. His opponent then blundered his rook and resigned a few moves later on move 21.
The final result was a 3-1 win for Derby C. That leaves us with equal points with Burton and Lichfield C at the top of the division. However, game difference means that Burton and Lichfield C are the champions. Nonetheless, Derby C came a close second and both teams will be promoted.
Matt 23/4/25
(Burton and Lichfield C have 23 points and a game difference of 29, Derby C have 23 points with a game difference of 20 - Kevin)
| Derby C | 3 - 1 | Burton & Lichfield C | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weighill, Carl | 1662 | 1 - 0 | Natoniewski, Piotr | 1526 |
| 2 | Caswell, Matthew | 1634 | 0 - 1 | Chacko, Albert | 1515 |
| 3 | Cockburn, Andre | 1558 | 1 - 0 | Grubb, Mark | 1499 |
| 4 | Samra, Mohinderpal | 1466 | 1 - 0 | Beard, Nigel | 1540 |