Derby C Fall 3–1 to Unbeaten Rolls Royce D
On Thursday (27/11/24), Derby C travelled to Rolls Royce to take on their unbeaten D team. We had hoped to secure our first win of the season, but another disappointing team performance saw us fall to a 3–1 defeat.
Matt played Black on Board 4 against Richard Temple, who stepped in as a late replacement. The opening was fairly uneventful, but in the middlegame he overlooked a forking idea and dropped a pawn. From that moment he was on the defensive and struggling to maintain the position. Despite battling hard, he lost a second pawn, then a third, and soon had to resign.
Shah played the Pirc Defence and had early opportunities to strike in the centre. However, on move 13 he placed his knight on a poor square and then missed a tactic from Maurice that cost him a pawn. The position slowly deteriorated from there, and he was eventually ground down, resigning on move 42.
My own game started well, and I gained a significant advantage, but I then made the classic mistake of chasing material while overlooking my opponent’s mating threats. I thought I had everything covered, but my analysis was a move short — and that was enough to turn the tables: 3–0.
Carl, however, played an excellent game, developing an overwhelming position and converting confidently to secure a consolation point for the team.
| Rolls Royce D | 3 - 1 | Derby C | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cheale, Isaac | 1715 | 1 - 0 | Williams, David | 1837 |
| 2 | Hill, Maurice J | 1688 | 1 - 0 | Hussain, Shah | 1691 |
| 3 | Fraser, Chris A | 1517 | 0 - 1 | Weighill, Carl | 1669 |
| 4 | Temple, Richard P | 1602 | 1 - 0 | Caswell, Matthew | 1617 |
Dave Williams 28/11/25
(Apologies for the late publication of this report - Kevin)