On Tuesday (27/10/26), Derby D hosted Spondon A in Division 3 and came away with a 2½–1½ win. The visitors could only field three players, so Curtis was awarded the point by default without having to move a piece.
On board two, Paul had White against Philip Sheldon's Dutch Defence. The middlegame was tight, with Philip concentrating on a kingside attack that saw a rook and queen lined up on the h-file. Some tricky tactics followed, but the attack soon passed and the game switched to the centre. Paul initially lost a pawn but won it back a few moves later, and after a series of exchanges both players were left with queen, same-coloured bishops and four pawns each. The game ended in a draw.
On board one, Garry had Black against Paul Pearson, who chose the English. The game was very even until move 35, when Garry entered a major exchange of heavy pieces, calculating that it would give him a pawn on the way to queening. Unfortunately an available pawn went untaken, and Pearson was able to use his rook and bishop to build a positional advantage. Garry resigned on move 49. He felt it was a game he should have won, reflecting that he could have been more aggressive with his material advantage.
On board three, I played a King's Indian setup against Richard Farmery's Colle and got an early space advantage. Richard chose to swap queens early, and his light-squared bishop for my knight. He then pushed his a-pawn, exchanging it at b6, and exchanged rooks on the a-file, leaving me in control of that file. After taking the seventh rank and manoeuvring my minor pieces to good squares, my advance of the b- and c-pawns proved enough to win.
Andre 2/11/26
| Derby D | 2½ - 1½ | Spondon A | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sands, Garry | 1569 | 0 - 1 | Pearson, Paul | 1631 |
| 2 | Burrows, Paul | 1518 | ½ - ½ | Sheldon, Philip | 1602 |
| 3 | Cockburn, Andre | 1476 | 1 - 0 | Farmery, Richard M | 1469 |
| 4 | Morrell, Curtis | 1478 | 1 - 0(def) | Default | 0000 |
(Match played on Tue 27 Oct 26)