Obvious mistakes on both sides led to a drawn match

Derby League Division 2

It was an evening of obvious errors and it all started on board one which was the first match to finish. Adam Routledge’s opponent allowed a pawn to fork two pieces and as pieces were swapped off it became clear that Adam had a winning position. Kevin Gallagher returned to the team after two months away because of a distressing family situation. He made a stupid blunder on move 40 and resigned.

That left two games to finish and the combined team had a rating advantage on both boards. Mike Hoare engineered a final swap of pieces which left his opponent’s King on the wrong side of the board and Mike was able to run a pawn down unopposed to get a Queen.

Gary Monks’ game on board three was complicated. As his King had no protection from pawns his opponent was able to move his major pieces with checks and eventually a double attack won a Bishop and a passed pawn soon finished the game, leaving the combined team bottom of the table – just.