Burton & Lichfield 'B' fall short against strong Breadsall team

Derbyshire Chess Association Division 1

Burton & Lichfield 'B' are familiar with the challenges of being out-graded in their Derby Division 1 matches. In their latest contest, playing away against Breadsall, they achieved their best result of the season so far, but still fell short, losing 3-1 to a strong, experienced Breadsall side.

The two standout Burton & Lichfield performers of the evening were Vinod Fernando, playing White on Board 1, and Anushka Ramawickrama, also White on Board 3. Both drew their games against significantly higher-rated players, Vinod against 2100-rated John Molyneux, and Anushka against 1890-rated Steven Burke. Vinod lost a pawn, but had compensation with his opponent's King unable to castle. Anushka attacked in an Open Sicilian, but when the Queens were exchanged, his advantage slipped to equality.

Sadly, the other two games ended in defeat for Burton & Lichfield players. John Hoddy, Black on Board 2, was significantly worse coming out of a passive opening. His opponent, Derek Jarvis, then overreached in mistakenly sacrificing a Knight. The position should have been equal, but John missed a tactic in the following moves, and lost a Rook.

The last game to finish was the Board 4 battle between two local legends, Andy Toothill of Breadsall, and David Pickering. David, playing Black, missed a couple of tactical opportunities in the middlegame, and was on the back foot for most of the rest of the contest. Andy was very short of time, and even hinted at a possible repetition in his choice of moves at one point, but then found the right tactical idea to breakthrough and deliver mate.