Shrewsbury’s highest-rated player Nathanael Paul was the top county finisher at Shropshire Chess Congress. Nathanael finished the tournament in seventh place in the Open category with 3/5, winning both of his games with the white pieces and drawing two and losing one – to eventual winner FM Jonathan Blackburn – with black, writes Peter Kitchen. He only finished below international master John Cox on tie break, and made sure he bettered his eighth place seeding by drawing with fifth seed Jim Burnett (rated 2158 ECF) in the final round. His game with Blackburn was also broadcast on the live boards arranged by the organisers for the top two boards for…

Three Shrewsbury Chess Club members will be among those chasing trophies and prize money at this weekend’s Shropshire Chess Congress. The club’s top board Nathanael Paul, A team captain Francis Best and Ivor Salter have all confirmed their entry to the tournament, which will take place at Wrekin Housing Trust’s headquarters from tonight (Friday) until Sunday, writes Peter Kitchen. Some 146 players from across the country had entered across the competition’s four sections at the time of writing, with cash prizes available in all categories. Barring any late entries, Paul will be the eighth seed in a field of 24 in the top Open section. While competition will be fierce,…

The calendar tab has been updated to reflect January and February 2023. Happy New Year!

Shrewsbury Chess Club’s players can look back on a satisfactory first half of the season – with one team top of its division and all performing competitively. The club’s A team lies top of Shropshire Rapidplay League division one at Christmas – albeit having played three games more than its nearest pursuers – and is performing strongly in both the over-the-board and online leagues, writes Peter Kitchen. Both the B and C teams are finding the going tough in the online league, with the B team still adjusting to life in the top flight after last season’s title-winning promotion. Perhaps more significantly, the club has welcomed new players and seen…

It is a lifelong quest that never truly ends for chess players. The more we play, the more patterns we pick up, the more mistakes we make, the more inspiration we have. We win, draw and lose games with the whole spectrum of emotions that comes with each result. This journey along the road to improvement is different for each individual player, writes Peter Kitchen. But for many active members of Shrewsbury Chess Club, the first half of the current league season has seen plenty of instances where stepping out of the comfort zone – and perhaps enduring some short-term pain as a result – has been a vital first…

Shrewsbury A are top of the charts at Christmas – in Shropshire Rapidplay League at least. Francis Best’s side won two out of three fixtures at the latest evening of rapidplay league matches at Telepost on Monday night, writes Peter Kitchen. The results took Shrewsbury to the top of the division one table on game points scored ahead of Telepost A and Newport A. But the A’s are not involved in the next two rapidplay league nights and will be overhauled by other teams with games in hand. Nathanael Paul was the top performer on the night with 2/3 on top board, including extracting an unlikely win over Steve Tarr…

Tony Purser has made the draw for this year’s club championship and the website page has been updated to reflect this. Club members will also have received an email from Tony containing contact details for each player. There is the usual half point incentive to complete games on time. Good luck and enjoy the games!

Lightning struck twice as a Shrewsbury side suffered a second 3-1 online defat to Oswestry B in the space of a week. This time it was Shrewsbury A who were no match for their opposition from up the A5, just eight days after Shrewsbury B suffered an identical fate in a Shropshire Online Chess League division one match, writes Peter Kitchen. Only a fine piece of endgame play from Francis Best to turn around an inferior rook ending against Rudy van Kemenade spared the A’s the embarrassment of a whitewash as their conquerors swept to the top of the table at Christmas. It was the A team’s first online league…

Shrewsbury A were condemned to their first Shropshire Chess League division one defeat of the season, going down 3.5-1.5 at Newport A. The visitors, missing two first team regulars, fought valiantly against their full strength hosts and the first three games to finish all ended in hard fought draws, writes Peter Kitchen. But defeats for Francis Best on board two and debutant Robert Green on bottom board in the remaining two games proved the difference between the sides. The match was also available to be followed live on the internet, as Newport tested their live boards ahead of their use at the upcoming Shropshire Chess Congress. Although traditionally not a…

Shrewsbury B slipped to another defeat in division one of Shropshire Online Chess League – this time at the hands of Oswestry B. Captain Mark Smith was outgunned by a spectacular attack by Rudy van Kemenade on board two, and Ivor Salter was ground down by Peter Fisher in a long ending in 74 moves on bottom board, writes Peter Kitchen. Shrewsbury’s only joy came with the black pieces. Nathanael Paul drew with Charles Lowick Higgie on top board and Stephen Priestley shared the spoils with Peter Lovatt on board three. In both of these games the Shrewsbury player was a pawn down in an ending but in a technically…