White-knuckled victory against Belper for Derby D
We were visited by a stronger Belper D side on Tuesday evening (25/11/25), but the team rose to the challenge superbly to secure a well-earned 2½–1½ victory.
On Board 1, Garry faced Andrew Wathen in a Queen’s Pawn opening that soon settled into a closed structure. The early play was evenly balanced, though around move 20 Garry gained a promising advantage. The opportunity to push further slipped away, however, and as the position tightened, neither side had much scope to break through. Although Garry felt he might have been slightly better, a draw was ultimately the fairest outcome.
My game on Board 2 was a Saemisch King’s Indian that developed into a blocked-centre struggle. Kingside pawn advances soon followed: I pushed the g-pawn while David advanced his h-pawn, and I eventually won that pawn. After a large series of exchanges, we reached an unusual endgame with both rooks deep in each other’s territory. With connected pawns and a five-minute time edge, I was able to queen and secure the full point.
On Board 3, Chris found himself under pressure from Vaughan in a Sicilian Defence. Despite resisting for much of the game, Vaughan’s advancing queenside pawn majority became decisive, and Chris was eventually overcome.
Board 4 saw Sam playing on the new digital boards for the first time — not without jokingly asking Kevin if he could add the ranks and files around the edges, which was politely refused! The game began with e4, both players castling kingside before a tight fight for central control. Spotting a tactical opportunity, Sam offered a pawn to open a key diagonal and pin rook to queen. Roger accepted the poisoned pawn, allowing Sam to win the exchange. Confident from that moment, he declined a late draw offer and converted cleanly for his first win of the season.
A strong team performance across all boards delivered a valuable 2½–1½ win and an excellent result against higher-rated opposition.
| Derby D | 2½ - 1½ | Belper D | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sands, Garry | 1594 | ½ - ½ | Wathen, Andrew | 1594 |
| 2 | Cockburn, Andre | 1524 | 1 - 0 | Woodhouse, David JF | 1589 |
| 3 | Cole, Chris | 1500 | 0 - 1 | Smith, Vaughan WG | 1583 |
| 4 | Samra, Mohinderpal | 1473 | 1 - 0 | Moors, Roger | 1527 |
Andre Cockburn 27/11/25
The games scores are available here:
https://lichess.org/broadcast/derbyshire-division-3-derby-d-v-belper-d/match/7hm8LqrQ