It has been a busy week at Shrewsbury Chess Club despite the league season finishing, as the both the A and B teams were involved as hosts in cup semi-finals either side of the annual Quickplay event organised by Toby Neal at the Wrekin Housing Trust. For simplicity’s sake I’ll deal with them one at a time and chronologically, which means starting with the A team’s encounter with Priorslee Lions A in the Cox trophy, battling for the right to face Newport in the final. The first game to finish in that one was a surprisingly quick draw between David Everington and William Bates on board 2. The pair were…

Shrewsbury B booked a place in the semi-finals of the Minor Knockout to set up a town derby with Telepost B as they held off third division outfit Oswestry B. Matt Best’s team had a significant grading advantage over the boards, and the projected advantage was given to them after Mark Smith’s quick victory over John Molyneux on board 4. Mark, who arrived slightly late, made light of the time deficit by winning two pieces early on in the opening, and built on the advantage to give the hosts the lead. After that, though, things weren’t anywhere near as straightforward. Norman O’Connor was up the exchange against Euan Stevenson on…

The A team played against Telepost A on 12th May in the first round of this year’s Cox Trophy competition.  After our fairly lack-lustre performance in the league this year, it looked on paper as though we would be up against it on the night.  Difficulties in parking meant that I turned up a bit late and the other three games were already under way.  Richard Bryant had sportingly not started his clock and I observed that the home team was missing big guns Nigel Ferrington and Phil Zabrocki. David quipped that he had won the toss in my absence, with Richard retorting that they were now playing for four…

With the 2013-14 league season now officially completed, Shrewsbury’s A and B teams looked to build upon their successful campaigns with a good showing in this year’s Minor Knockout competition. The B team were up against Third Division outfit Telepost D, and the C team faced a challenging game against Telepost B, looking to draw inspiration from last year’s surprise victory over a strong Priorslee Lions B side. The B team were one up before any Pawns had been pushed, as Telepost had only been able to field 3 players for the re-arranged fixture. After some hasty discussions and checking up on Summer grades, Dan Lockett volunteered to take the…

Controller Matt Best has issued the draw for the 5th and final round of this year’s Shrewsbury Chess Club Championship, the details for which can be viewed on the club championship page of the website. The crosstable for the tournament can be seen below, and the deadline for these games is Friday 13th June. Finally – a reminder of the tie-break system which may become pertinent: If it is a tie between two players, then the two players in question would play another game under normal rules with a toss for colours. In the event of that match being drawn, then two 10-minute games, each player being White in one,…

With the League season having drawn to its conclusion, the summer opens the door to the return of the ever-popular Shrewsbury Town Championship. Only 4 Shrewsbury Club members have entered so far, let’s see if we can get a few more! The link for details is here.

The final league fixture of Shrewsbury Chess Club’s 2013-2014 season was completed on Friday night as Shewsbury B – already safe from both promotion and relegation – hosted big hitters Ludlow – already promoted, but gunning for the title. The visitors enjoyed a grading advantage on all 5 boards and had recorded wins over the Shrewsbury club in their last two meetings. This time, though, the only item on the agenda for Matt Best’s B team was pride, rather than any pressure to stay up/in the cup, and it meant that all the games were fairly interesting. The first game to finish came on board 2, where Dan Lockett was…

It seems to have been a regular occurrence this season that when two Shrewsbury teams both play on the same night, only one of them comes away with a positive result. This proved to be the case yet again on Friday as the A and C Teams were both in action. The A team – who, fortunately, had already secured their first division safety with a 4-1 win over Priorslee Lions B to end a run of 5 straight defeats – were at home to Telford A, fighting for their lives and requiring to draw or win the match to stay up. There was a slight technical hitch as the…

After the haywire events of last night’s title decider were distributed to the world via the medium of the Shrewsbury Club website, tomorrow (Friday 4th) is also set to see the final league fixture of the season broadcast live – on the same page as yesterday, in case you were wondering. Shrewsbury A host Telford A with the hosts having assured their first division survival with an emphatic win over Priorslee Lions B recently. Things, however, are very different for the visitors who will be relegated if they lose. Draw or win, however, and Condover and Church Stretton A will slip into the murky mire of the Second Division, where…

Tonight (Wednesday) sees the crunch match for the first Division title take place as surprise package Wellington A take on Telepost at the Wrekin housing trust in the final round of league fixtures. For the first time in Shropshire Chess history, the whole match is being broadcast live and is available to watch through our website on the “LIVE chess” page from around 7:30. A quick round-up of the situation for you: TEAMS PLAYED WON DRAWN LOST FOR AGAINST POINTS Newport A 14 9 2 3 47.5 22.5 20 Telepost A 13 9 1 3 43 22 19 Wellington A 13 8 3 2 39 26 19 Remember that it…