Time trouble tells as combined ‘A’ team lose to Rolls Royce

Derby League Division 1

The combined Burton and Lichfield ‘A’ team lost 2.5 – 1.5 in a tense, well-matched encounter with Rolls Royce ‘A’.

Ben Nevett-Farman’s Board 1 game and Ryan Smith’s Board 4 game both ended quietly in agreed draws. Ben’s opponent engineered piece exchanges from a slightly cramped position to leave neither side with any realistic chance of pushing for a win. Ryan Smith’s game also lacked in tactical fireworks; he described it as “pretty dead”, with a draw agreed shortly after queens were exchanged on move 25.

Richard Anderson, playing Black on Board 2, also drew, but it was a more interesting, imbalanced encounter. Faced with a weak ‘b’ pawn in the late opening, Richard chose to allow it to be captured, preserving instead the compensation of the two bishops. The decision proved to be a sensible one; following a rook invasion to c2, a pawn push, and a short calculated sequence, the exchange of a pair of rooks led to a still interesting, but essentially equal position. A draw was agreed.

The match result therefore depended on Vinod Fernando’s Board 3 game. Venturing a new opening choice for the first time with white, Vinod succeeded in sidelining one of his opponent’s knights on the a6 square. The game developed into a highly complex middlegame position with Vinod winning a pawn, and then building a significant advantage. He was, however, also under severe time pressure, falling ten minutes down on the clock, and playing on the 10 second increment in a very tricky position with all of the major pieces still on the board. He won another pawn, but then pushed his passed pawn prematurely, and allowing his opponent’s knight to invade to a key square. A pin of a rook to his king was the killing blow, and Vinod resigned. It was a fascinating, complex encounter that sadly ended the wrong way for Burton and Lichfield ‘A’. (Match played: 11th December).