Pendulum Swings Derby A’s Way in Statement Victory
Sicilian surprises helped Derby A stun league leaders Belper A, in our match on Tuesday (17/02/26), and maintain our emerging plucky push to challenge for the top-flight title.
Akin to Leicester City’s infamous shock Premier League winning season ten years ago, our campaign has seen us surprise higher-rated foes and regular title challengers such as Breadsall, Chesterfield, and now the reigning champions in Belper.
Six games remain for us, in which anything could happen, but we can enjoy it whilst it lasts. We’re at an equivalent time to when Gary Lineker said he’d present Match of the Day in his underpants. Sources tell me Steve Retout has stated something similar about our campaign…
We now eye clutch matches in March and April to see if we can stay in the race for what would be Derby’s first top-flight league championship scalp in over 50 years.
Belper arrived looking to extend their lead at the division’s summit, but the tone for an upset was set when I achieved my first classical victory against the league’s highest-rated player and current county individual champion, John Potter.
Facing the intriguing 1.a3, as black, I sidestepped the bait of a reversed Kings Indian and opted for a Botvinnik-style set-up often playable against anti-Sicilian openings. Cloak-and-dagger manoeuvring followed and, once it became hard for my opponent to find a plan, I gained momentum with a kingside pawn storm and kept my composure to crash through and land checkmate on the board after a queen salvo.
George, meanwhile, with black against Simon Gilmore on board three, made his Sicilian debut armed with alarmingly detailed and accurate prep from clubmate Justin ‘Gustafsson’ Smith. He built a huge lead on the clock and, in an anticipated queen-less middlegame, had his opponent’s king on the run with checkmate almost imminent.
But then the tide started to turn.
Kevin, with white against Jamie Tilston, couldn’t reproduce the magic of his win in the reverse fixture. A touch passive but still solid out of the opening, he misjudged the change of pace necessary in an opposite-castles middlegame and Tilston converted very smoothly to level the match.
Leonid, making his A-team debut, bagged an advantage early on with white against Andy Townsend, but the latter turned things around by hurling a g-pawn forward and breaking open his rival’s king-side defences to achieve a winning position.
Also around this time, George missed a cute mating net that would have forced resignation and his opponent’s touring king started to become an endgame asset rather than a liability. George’s advantage faded but, with Simon quite low on time, the game remained in the balance.
Then the pendulum swung back.
Leonid was tied up on his back rank, pinned in a variety of angles, but his opponent, low on time, couldn’t find the tricky tactic needed to seal the deal. A timely bishop move suddenly swung the evaluation back to equal. The battle continued, with Leonid in fact missing a tactic to win, but, with his opponent blitzing, he kept his composure to secure a draw.
And George, despite catching up and passing his opponent on the clock, got back into the driving seat. It was tense and nervy, with Simon at one point missing a tactic to force rook versus rook and knight, but George held his nerve to convert a thematic rook-and-pawn finale - and in doing so he clinched a memorable team victory.
| Derby A | 2½ - 1½ | Belper A | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tompson, John C | 2089 | 1 - 0 | Potter, John M | 2232 |
| 2 | Dalley, Kevin J | 1848 | 0 - 1 | Tilston, Jamie D | 2080 |
| 3 | Burdell, George | 1834 | 1 - 0 | Gilmore, Simon N | 1950 |
| 4 | Siedielnikov, Leonid | 1870 | ½ - ½ | Townsend, Andy | 1854 |
The games can be found here:
https://lichess.org/broadcast/derbyshire-league-division-1-derby-a-v-belper-a/round-1/5gva2B5r
John Tompson 20/02/26