A Tale of Two Teams: Derby A Hold Off Derby B 2½–1½

As is customary the “derby” Derby match is presented from the perspective of both captains

On Tuesday (22/09/26), Derby B took on Derby A in Derby & District Division 1 and went down 1½–2½ after a battling performance against arguably the strongest side in the division.

On board one, Kevin faced Owen Crawford — outrated by well over 500 points, he knew he had his work cut out. The game followed a sideline of the Ruy Lopez that Kevin had recently looked at, but Owen had prepared a fresh twist that caught him off guard. Under significant pressure, Kevin lost a pawn and was on the back foot from that point on as Owen pressed relentlessly, forcing a pawn through to an inevitable promotion. Kevin resigned.

On board two, Justin took on club champion John Tompson. A rather tame opening and early middlegame led to a level-looking position. Justin later reflected that he misjudged the mobility of John's passed central pawn and declined a queen trade, perhaps wrongly — John might have taken advantage, but he faltered, and queens came off in time. Justin felt he had John's passer, by now on the seventh rank, under control in the rook-and-pawn ending, but with no real winning chances and the overall match situation in mind, the players agreed a draw.

I had an interesting but fairly uneventful draw on board three with George Burdell, who met my queen's pawn opening with a form of the Dutch Defence. A knight exchange left me with an advanced but vulnerable pawn in the centre, which gave me a little space but no real pressure. Rooks came off on the open queen's file, and a brief tactical foray from George's bishop and queen needed careful handling on my part, before the queens were exchanged and there was not much left for either side to play for. George accepted a draw offer.

That left board four, where Steve had prepared an attacking line of the Dutch Stonewall/Leningrad for Black against Leonid Siedielnikov — an opening Steve says was developed in the 1920s and more recently revived by an Indian grandmaster. Steve carried out his plan against the white d-pawn, then sacrificed his b-pawn to open a line for his queen on b6, threatening Leonid's king. Leonid was very much on the back foot, but Steve credits him with defending the difficult position with real resilience, taking advantage of a few of Steve's inaccuracies to reach a position with an extra pawn for the exchange and, Steve felt, the upper hand on the white squares. Seeing no realistic winning chances, Steve forced a draw with opposite-coloured bishops and a few pawns left on the board.

A loss for the team, then, but against perhaps the highest-rated side in the division, and a good fight on every board that showed the spirit of the B team.

David Smith (B Team Captain) 

It was debut delight and a bruising fight as Mr (J)T helped avoid derby pain for the A team with the final word in a tense season-opening finale.

A bullish B team pushed us to the wire and at one stage appeared odds on to draw the match, if not better.

New signing Owen Crawford brushed yours truly off board one and got his Derby return off to winning ways against Kevin Dalley. On the Black side of a Ruy Lopez, he dug a sideline out of the opening files and, after finding a deflection tactic that won a pawn and left White with zero counter-play, he comfortably secured victory.

George Burdell also fared well with Black, gaining a solid bind out of the opening against David Smith on board three. Calm resistance from his opponent meant he was unable to secure a clear breakthrough as pawns locked up the position. He agreed a draw slightly prematurely, I felt, but it was an objectively equal position.

The tension dialled up from here when Leonid Siedielnikov ran into trouble on board four. Steve 'Renegade' Retout rolled back the years when, guesting for the B team, he crashed through in the centre and reached a completely winning position. But Leonid's trademark resilience, somehow, had the final say — even despite him rejecting a draw offer in an objectively losing position! He made things tricky with a knight and bishop combo against a rook and bishop, and when Steve sacrificed his exchange advantage back, his advantage slipped and the game finished in a drawn opposite-coloured bishops endgame.

Meanwhile, I had struggled to make inroads against Justin Smith in a dry Slav position — but gained a significant advantage after Justin wrongly avoided a queen trade.

However, amid the drama on board four, I then made a similar blunder, allowing the queens to come off and misevaluating my winning chances in a double-rook endgame where I had a passed pawn one square from queening.

A back-rank trick was my final chance to ask questions, but I missed it by a move. I could have plodded on and had a very slight time advantage, but I believe Justin would have found the resources to hold. With Leonid having salvaged an unlikely half-point save to keep us 2–1 in front, I accepted a draw offer to clinch the match.

John Tompson (A Team Captain)

	Derby A		2½ - 1½	Derby B
1	Crawford, Owen	2331	1 - 0	Dalley, Kevin J	1823
2	Tompson, John C	2162	½ - ½	Smith, Justin	1810
3	Burdell, George	1875	½ - ½	Smith, David	1829
4	Siedielnikov, Leonid	1877	½ - ½	Retout, Steve P	1857

(Match played on Tue 22 Sep 26)

The games from the match can be found here:

https://lichess.org/broadcast/derby-a-team-2026-2027-season/derby-a-v-derby-b/pEQT3JGd