On Tuesday (10/11/26), time-trouble tension took centre stage as Derby A held their nerve to bounce back to winning ways with a 3–1 victory over Breadsall.
Following defeat at defending champions Belper, another tough fixture awaited against former perennial league title winners Breadsall.
Record Derbyshire Individual champion Paul Madden navigated a closed Ruy Lopez sideline against Owen on top board, and, with a slight space advantage, hurled his kingside pawns up the board. Owen responded with a sling-shot a-pawn. Paul survived a slight scare and maintained good prospects of an advantage, so Owen accepted his draw offer.
On board two, I uncorked a rare sideline against the so-called Gukesh QGD - only to forget my prior analysis a single move later. I emerged from the opening with a significant time advantage but, when my opponent Derek Jarvis offered a pawn as bait, I snatched it - misjudging a sneaky queen move to open up good prospects of an attack.
George, meanwhile, was holding firm in a solid queen’s pawn middlegame against Andrew Toothill, while Leonid, on board four, had a slight edge against Steven Burke.
The drama unfolded when first, Derek sacrificed the exchange to go all-in on my exposed king, and then George went wrong in the endgame and sensed he was in a losing position.
I managed to hold firm, however, and, with my opponent trying to conjure threats, he lost on time to give us a one-point lead in the match.
Immediately, George then found a trick and, with Andrew very low on time, it resulted in Andrew blundering a piece. It turns out that, with rook against rook and knight, he’d have still been able to engineer a perpetual check.
Leonid, meanwhile, perhaps missed some opportunities for pawn breaks - but he impressively engineered a strong advantage in a closed endgame. Ultimately, had George lost or drawn, he could have pushed for victory - but with the match result already determined, he accepted a draw.
Our busy November continues with a road trip to Clay Cross A next Tuesday.
| Derby A | 3 - 1 | Breadsall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crawford, Owen | 2360 | ½ - ½ | Madden, Paul | 2077 |
| 2 | Tompson, John C | 2130 | 1 - 0 | Jarvis, Derek A | 1953 |
| 3 | Burdell, George | 1879 | 1 - 0 | Toothill, Andrew | 1904 |
| 4 | Siedielnikov, Leonid | 1836 | ½ - ½ | Burke, Steven J | 1884 |
(Match played on Tue 10 Nov 26)
John Tompson 12/11/26