Derby C Keep Rolling with Gritty Away Victory

Following their first win of the season last week, Derby C travelled away to play Belper C on Wednesday (4/2/26). They overcame travel chaos and strong opposition to secure an excellent 2½–1½ away win. With the A38 and Uttoxeter Road both closed, Mickleover was gridlocked, but despite the disrupted start all players arrived and play eventually got underway.

Shah struck first on board two. Playing Black, he capitalised when his opponent blundered a piece and, from there, converted confidently to give Derby an early lead. On board one, Leonid faced tough opposition but held firm; an evenly balanced struggle never tipped decisively either way, and the point was shared after a well-contested game.

Board three saw a tense and complicated battle, with Matt playing White. The game remained finely balanced for much of the middlegame and into the endgame, but an unfortunate late blunder turned what looked like a draw into a loss. That levelled the match at 1½–1½, leaving the result resting on Shourya on board four.

Shourya kept his nerve superbly in a queen-and-pawn endgame. Already a passed pawn to the good, he advanced it methodically, and once the queens came off the pawn could no longer be stopped. The win secured the match — a composed and crucial finish to round off a strong team performance under awkward circumstances.

	Belper C		1½ - 2½	Derby C
1	Alldread, Luke S	1897	½ - ½	Siedielnikov, Leonid	0000
2	Gartside, Carl	1763	0 - 1	Hussain, Shah	1705
3	Fursman, Rob	1746	1 - 0	Caswell, Matthew	1603
4	Smith, Vaughan WG	1592	0 - 1	Eaga, Shourya	1611

Matt 05/02/26