Your not so illustrious B team has dropped into the danger zone of Division2 after losing our midweek away match against Telford B by 3½ – 1½. In a match that really could have gone either way on paper, over the chessboard Telford proved to be the more ruthless.  Dr Ile was playing on board one against the strong Mark Keady from Brewood.  Ile had what looked to me like a really attacking position, with the possibility  of a knight sacrifice, which was declined, after which he was gradually worn down by his experienced  opponent: 1-0. Norman was also having a good game on board 2.  It all looked pretty even…

Your illustrious B team got their league campaign well under way with a 5-0 whitewash over a strong Newport B team on Friday night. The inclusion of Spanish exchange student (board two), Celia Gillis, and Nigerian Doctor Olusegun Ilesanmi (board three) certainly went a long way to achieving  this result. With wins from Mark Smith (board one), Norman O’Connor (board four) and me on board five, we became the first team to  achieve  a whitewash in the top 2 divisions so far this season. Unfortunately, Celia is only with us until Christmas but talks are underway with the Spanish  Government!  Dr Ile can hopefully can find the time in his busy schedule…

A quick catch up on our first two matches.  First of all, we lost out to Telepost A at our first fixture of the season.  Things might have been so different!  However, our 4-1 defeat has been erased from the memory banks and I am therefore unable to provide any more details! Second up, we were due to be playing Oswestry away.  This time, we achieved the same 4-1 score, only in our favour.  To be fair, Oswestry were missing their normal top two players, so started at a bit of a disadvantage.  The first player to finish was David Everington, who was playing David Bennion.  Ever the optimist, I…

Apologies  for the delay in writing this; I have been having some technical  difficulties  with my e-mail. A home defeat by 3-2 against  Priorslee B was the result of our opening match of the season, with draws for Mark on board 1, Ivor on board 3 and defeats for Norman and Tony on boards 2 and 5 respectively.  I actually managed to win my game against  my fellow captain after a long hard struggle which usually ensues after opening with the Colle.  I didn’t get to see much of the other games and had no reports, so I’ll leave it at that, but I will add (speaking with my captain’s…

Shrewsbury A finished the 2014-15 league season with a flourish as a superb victory over a strong Wellington A side was coupled with a draw against the newly-crowned Champions (and still undefeated) Priorslee Lions A to mean Francis Best’s side finished with 7 points out of a possible 8 from the final four fixtures of the season. In the penultimate fixture, Wellington fielded a team minus stalwart Toby Neal, although Shrewsbury was lacking Mark Smith.  Reserves Ian Davies (for Shrewsbury) and John Lenton (for Wellington) battled each other to a standstill in a creditable draw for both sides, leaving the upper boards to battle it out.  On board 1, Tiago…

Your illustrious B team almost certainly look like finishing in fourth place in Division 2 after we were held to a draw by Telford C and Telepost B trounced an under-strength Telford B by 5-0, leaving them a point ahead of us with one match to play. On paper, at least, we were clear favourites to win and indeed things started well with Mark gaining a quick victory on board 1, after his opponent dropped a piece playing the Centre Counter.  With all the other games looking extremely promising, the 2 points looked in the bag.  Norman on board two then had to settle for a draw, as he found…

The B team has dropped down to fourth place in the division following our 5-0 defeat to Church Stetton A and Telepost’s victory against Wellington B.  Both teams are now on ten points and are battling  for third spot. Two critical matches are coming up this week as we take on Telford C and they host Telford B.  Let’s hope there are no defaults in these games!  That’s it for now, will try to give a fuller reportnext time round. Ian Davies, B Team Captain

Norman O’Connor has sportingly contributed a couple of interesting battles he’s had against Church Stretton’s Steve Rooney in this season’s league.  Stretton have been dominating the second division, having only narrowly lost out in the previous year’s relegation battle and look set to bounce back to the first division for next season.  Although the result of both Shrewsbury B v Church Stretton matches was a 5-0 whitewash, the bare score masks the underlying battles, which were generally far closer than the scoreline suggests.  This is often the case, of course, and one of the hallmarks of a strong player is to find good moves regardless of the position on the…

Having gained a confidence-boosting victory over Telford A in our last match, we knew that this was no time for complacency, especially as our next match was against penultimate placed team, Oswestry A.  A slip up at this stage could easily undo the good work from last time and push us back into the danger zone. On board 5, Mark Smith was the first to finish, having quickly reached a Rook and Pawn ending against John Davies.  Mark was able to harass the enemy pawns, win one and, when John allowed the exchange of Rooks, it was soon all over in favour of the Shrewsbury player.  A good start! In…

The B team suffered their second defeat in under a week to see our promotion hopes all but gone.  With just three matches left to play, it would take a minor miracle to finish in the top two places as we are 4 points adrift, with Church Stretton A next to play!!  However, we must keep plugging away and try and secure the third spot, which would be a fine achievement for the team. For those of a show-jumping disposition, like me, our clear round came to an abrupt halt, with 2 fences down  in succession and 3 fences still to jump, although we have rattled a few poles on…