If we use SQL Server >= 2005, then we can solve the task with one select only:
declare @t table (
Id int ,
Section int,
Moment date
);
insert into @t values
( 1 , 1 , '2014-01-01'),
( 2 , 1 , '2014-01-02'),
( 3 , 1 , '2014-01-03'),
( 4 , 1 , '2014-01-04'),
( 5 , 1 , '2014-01-05'),
( 6 , 2 , '2014-02-06'),
( 7 , 2 , '2014-02-07'),
( 8 , 2 , '2014-02-08'),
( 9 , 2 , '2014-02-09'),
( 10 , 2 , '2014-02-10'),
( 11 , 3 , '2014-03-11'),
( 12 , 3 , '2014-03-12'),
( 13 , 3 , '2014-03-13'),
( 14 , 3 , '2014-03-14'),
( 15 , 3 , '2014-03-15');
-- TWO earliest records in each Section
select top 1 with ties
Id, Section, Moment
from
@t
order by
case
when row_number() over(partition by Section order by Moment) <= 2
then 0
else 1
end;
-- THREE earliest records in each Section
select top 1 with ties
Id, Section, Moment
from
@t
order by
case
when row_number() over(partition by Section order by Moment) <= 3
then 0
else 1
end;
-- three LATEST records in each Section
select top 1 with ties
Id, Section, Moment
from
@t
order by
case
when row_number() over(partition by Section order by Moment desc) <= 3
then 0
else 1
end;