Burton and Lichfield ‘A’ bow out of Cup in decisive defeat

Derby and District Cup

In the autumn, the combined Burton and Lichfield ‘A’ side were surprise qualifiers in the Derby and District Cup. Having fielded weaker sides in the first two rounds, Burton and Lichfield were able to bolster their semi-final team by bringing in Ben Nevett-Farman on Board 1. The opposition, however, were the formidable Belper ‘A’, lead by 2200+ graded John Potter. The Burton and Lichfield side of Ben, Richard Anderson, Vinod Fernando and Ryan Smith were out-graded on every board. The format of the semi-final was for each player to play their opposing board twice in 25+5 rapidplay, once with White, once with Black.

By the end of the first cycle of games, the match was effectively over, with Burton and Lichfield 3.5 – 0.5 down. The only bright spot was a fighting draw for Ben, who defended doggedly with White against John to exchange into a drawn rook and pawn ending. Richard Anderson committed a positional blunder that left him with an isolated pawn and bad bishop vs. good knight. Attempts to complicated the game were woefully insufficient against the solid positional style of the 2080-rated Jamie Tilston. On Board 3, Vinod Fernando found himself facing the experienced 1950-graded Simon Gilmore for the third time this year. Having beaten Simon in their league encounter, Vinod was doing well again, and eventually managed to win a piece, but then missed an unusual mate in one (with double check) as the clocks ran low. Time trouble was also a problem for Ryan Smith on Board 4 as he missed a critical piece capture in a complex middlegame against 1890 graded Luke Alldread.

In the second round of games, both Ryan and Vinod secured draws, and Ben succumbed to John in a complex game with the Black pieces. The final game to finish was Richard Anderson’s. The game looked to be heading to a draw in a Queen and Pawn ending, but with Richard playing only on the 5 second increment, Jamie found an awkward check and Richard froze briefly in considering his response, and his clock fell.

The final score was therefore Belper ‘A’ 6.5 – Burton and Lichfield ‘A’ 1.5. Belper now deservedly move on to face Breadsall ‘A’ in the final. (Matches played: 19th February)