Match reports

Rapidplay battles for Burton & Lichfield teams in Derby & District Cup and Plate

David Pickering

26 Oct 2026

Derbyshire Chess Association Cup and Plate, Evening 1

The first night (Rounds 1 and 2) of the Derby & District Knockout Cup and Plate was held on 22nd October 2026 at Rolls Royce, Derby. Each player played 2 Rapid games on the night. Not many Lichfield members were able to take part in this event due to there being other league fixtures that night, but myself and John Moughtin-Leay played on Boards 2 and 4 respectively for the Cup team, Burton & Lichfield 'A'.

In the Cup in Round 1, I played Andrew Stevens (Rolls Royce A); I knew the opening fairly well but made an inaccurate move on move 8, allowing castling; I chose to try to hold back his queenside play, but in the end I couldn't prevent the advance of his Pawns there, while my kingside play never really got started; when he finally broke through with b4, I thought I was faced with the choice of giving up a Rook or mate; I chose the latter; but in fact, there was a 3rd option; the only move was a self-pin moving my knight to block his Queen check which would have held the position more or less.

Anushka Ramawickrama on Board 3 lost to George Burdell, Vinod Fernando on Board 1 drew with David Williams, and John lost to Drag Sudar. We were White in all games, Black in all in Round 2.

In Round 2, my game against Mike Alderson (Belper A) appeared to be a tame draw, but there was more to this game than first appeared, as subsequent analysis by both players showed; on move 13, I had the chance of getting a slight advantage with an alternative Pawn recapture and play against his weak a-pawn; at the end, I was surprised when he went for the exchange of Queens, and a draw was agreed shortly afterwards; instead he could have played a waiting move and left his Queen on the seventh rank, where Black would have been running out of moves.

Vinod missed a tactic and lost to Owen Crawford, and John beat Isaac Cheale. Anushka drew with Wiktor Sulkowski; he gave up his Queen for a Rook and piece and a strong passed Pawn, and in an exciting game secured a draw by repetition of moves with each player having 20 secs left on their clocks.

So 2 1/2 from 8 on the night, which leaves us far off from the top 4 places. In other notable results, Owen had lost to Frank Richmond and Wiktor had beaten Tomasz Adamski.

Standings as announced after the games: a team on 5 1/2, a team on 5, RR 'B' 2, Derby B '4', Breadsall '5'. There were 8 teams including Belper, RR A, Derby A and RR C. I think we finished 7th on the night.

In the Plate, Phil Goater won his first game against Pietro Giusto but lost his second against Paul Pearson. Terry Knight lost to Marcel Sulkowski but won his second game. Mark Grubb and Graeme Drayton also won one, lost one. The Sulkowskis are very promising juniors.

So 2 from 4 in each round in the Plate, 4 from 8 on the night. With 2 teams on 5 1/2, we're still in with a chance of progressing.

Standings: Chesterfield 6, Spondon 5 1/2, a team on 7, others 3, 3, 5 1/2, 3 1/2, so I think B&L B finished 5th of 8.

The second night (Rounds 3 and 4) is on 19 November. The top 4 in each section over the two nights go through to the semi-finals.

On LMS (Cup QP and Plate QP)

(Matches played: 22nd October)