Shrewsbury C stunned high-flying Priorslee Lions B with a superb victory in the first round of the minor knockout. Ian Davies’ side, without regulars Tony Purser and Eric Inglis, were bolstered by the availability of Matt Best to play on board three, although Fred Harris was not able to fill in on board four. However, the visitors (recently promoted to the first division after finishing second in the second tier) were also without several regulars, leading to them also only fielding three players and meant that the game would be decided over just three boards. It looked like things were set off badly when B Team skipper Matt dropped a…

Controller Matt Best has published the draw for the fifth and final round of this season’s Club Championship. The draw can be viewed on the Club Championship page, and the cross table is below. As can be seen, Jamie Hopkins and David Everington are joint leaders, with Jamie’s superior grading performance giving him the edge on the tie break.

Shrewsbury B ensured that the Club’s summer chess adventures got off to a flying start with a convincing 4-0 minor knockout win over Division three outfit Telepost D to set up a quarter final clash with Telepost C. After captain Matt Best lost the toss, Ivor Salter got proceedings underway with an efficient victory over Alan Cliff on board two. Having played his habitual Scandinavian, Ivor was able to get a nice, expansive position out of the opening and was able to deliver a very tidy Knight checkmate after Alan overlooked a Bishop on the long diagonal covering his King’s escape. Matt then doubled the lead when he beat Brian Holford…

As the league season drew to a close, all three Shrewsbury teams finished the campaign with disappointment. After Shrewsbury B lost two matches in three days, Ian Davies’ C Team missed out on second place and therefore promotion from the third division by the narrowest of margins – half a game point more would have been sufficient to secure promotion, despite a valiant late surge. Their fate was left out of their hands after they beat Oswestry B 3-1 away from home, with wins for Eric Inglis and Tony Purser followed up by draws from the top two boards of Ian himself and Andrew Lewis. That result meant that a…

Shrewsbury B’s league campaign culminated with a defeat away to Priorslee Lions on Monday night – a result which confirmed their opponents’ promotion. With the game having already been rescheduled on several occasions and limited scope for a further postponement, Shrewsbury skipper Matt Best was only able to field a team of three players, with Mark Smith unavailable, regular stand ins and irregular stand ins otherwise occupied, the C Team also playing and inanimate carbon rod down in Warwickshire and thus not able to play. However, despite having been thrashed 4.5-0.5 on the reverse fixture just three days beforehand despite a full complement of players, the visitors were able to…

With safety and mid-table mediocrity assured for Shrewsbury B irrespective of their final two results of the league season, Matt Best’s side slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season against promotion chasers Priorslee Lions B. After having managed to postpone Wellington A’s promotion back to the top flight by a few weeks, the hosts were hoping to similarly deflate their opponent’s bid with a defeat. However, without Ivor Salter and facing a strong line-up, the heroics were not to be repeated this time around. Priorslee grabbed an early initiative as Shrewsbury appeared to be mentally on their summer holidays (indeed, actually so in Ivor’s case!). Firstly, George Viszokai beat Eric Inglis…

With the league season drawing towards its conclusion, the summer chess scene is just about to begin. As well as the usual team cup competitions with the Minor Knockout and Cox trophy to be battled for, the team rapidplay is set to return and, as every, the hotly-contested Shrewsbury Town Championships are set to begin. Having fielded the winner of the inaugural competition three years ago when David Everington secured the title, as well as providing his successor in the form of Jamie Hopkins, the title left Shrewsbury Chess Club last summer when Nigel Ferrington of Telepost won it. We believe that the time is right for a Shrewsbury player to win…

Thanks to preceding results, Shrewsbury A were guaranteed of third place in the first division irrespective of their results in the final two fixtures of the season. However, while most eyes in the country set on the Manchester derby on Sky, Jamie Hopkins’ side were busy recording a resounding victory over Telepost B. Matt Best, standing in on board 5, got things off to a flyer with a swift victory over Shane Sweeney in an entertaining King’s Gambit (which, incidentally was recently ridiculed by some amateur called Nigel Small or something like that. Pah, what does he know?!) after finding a neat mating combination (see diagram [as requested by David!]: White to…

Shrewsbury A’s bid for third place was given a significant boost by a victory in a rearranged fixture over rivals Priorslee Lions A. With neither side in danger of relegation but equally, with no prospect of challenging for top honours, the players could be more relaxed in enjoying the chess for its own sake. Daniel Lockett was the first to register a victory for the home side.  Andy Tunks dropped a piece in the opening and could find no way back.  He resigned shortly afterwards. David Everington was out for revenge in his game against Steve Tarr on board 3 having suffered a somewhat unfortunate defeat in the reverse fixture.…

Shrewsbury B turned in an excellent performance as they postponed Wellington A’s confirmation of promotion with a 3-2 victory at the Sir John Bailey club. The hosts – two points clear at the top of the second division with a game in hand on second-placed Newport B – had won ten and drawn one of their eleven preceding fixtures this season, although Matt Best’s side would have drawn confidence from running them close in the return fixture, as well as the absence of a few regulars from the Wellington side (although they were still able to field the two highest graded players in the division on boards one and two!).…