Shrewsbury’s A and B teams face a rare derby clash to start this season’s Shropshire Online Chess League division one campaign. The club’s top two sides will do battle on Monday (November 7) following the B team’s promotion as runaway division two champions last season, with the A’s as the nominated “home” team, writes Peter Kitchen. Shrewsbury C will also compete in division two once again this season, and were this week starting with a tough-looking assignment against Telford A. Division one will have five teams this season, including defending champions Oswestry A, Oswestry B and Telepost A. Shrewsbury A, who finished second last season, will follow the club derby…

Shrewsbury A made a flying start to their Shropshire Chess League campaign division one campaign with an impressive 3.5-1.5 win away to Oswestry A. Debutant Nathanael Paul won on top board, and he was backed up by captain Francis Best and Dan Lockett, who both triumphed with the black pieces, writes Peter Kitchen. The result was particularly sweet for Shrewsbury as the club’s first team gained revenge for a 5-0 whitewash defeat in the corresponding fixture last season. Shrewsbury A had in fact lost on their last four league visits to the border town club. It marks a great start to the new league season as Best’s side aims to…

Two of the club’s players have reached a four-way playoff to decide the 2022 champion of Shrewsbury – and one of them is already guaranteed a piece of silverware. Dan Lockett and Stephen Priestley both finished on 4/5 in this summer’s competition and are among four of the 20-strong field to share first place. Priestley’s performance has already secured him the honour of being named the tournament’s under 1700 champion. But despite both players exceeding expectations, the pair will be underdogs against strong opposition from Telepost in the playoffs to decide the overall champion. Both have been drawn with the black pieces – Priestley will face tournament top seed Nigel…

Donations are being invited to help fund Shrewsbury Chess Club’s new David Everington Memorial Trophy. Members will have the chance to contribute to the new trophy, with any shortfall being made up out of club funds, writes Peter Kitchen. The trophy will then be awarded to the club’s player of the season – as decided by a secret ballot of members at the end of the season. The new trophy and the criteria for how it will be awarded were among the items discussed at the club’s annual general meeting on Friday night. David was a hugely popular member of Shrewsbury Chess Club for more than 50 years, during which…

Shrewsbury A will travel to Oswestry A for their opening Shropshire Chess League division one fixture of the new campaign. Francis Best’s side will make the trip up the A5 on October 27 to mark the start of the 2022/23 over-the-board season, writes Peter Kitchen. It will be followed by the first “El Chessico” derby of the season at home to Telepost A on November 11 and another home derby against Telepost B on November 25. The club’s first match against reigning champions Maddocks A will be on January 20, and the return derbies away to the Telepost sides will be on March 13 and 27 respectively. The 12-match campaign…

Shrewsbury Chess Club will leave its current venue at the Nerdy Café at the end of the 2022/23 season, it has been announced. The club’s hosts have chosen not to extend the current arrangement, which was due to run until February next year, in order to explore other ways of using the space during busy Friday evenings. Club secretary Mark Smith has negotiated an extension of the club’s stay until the end of the 2022/23 league season, and it is expected the club will continue to meet at the venue in Mardol on Friday evenings on a fortnightly basis until then. The search has now begun to find a new…

Shrewsbury Chess Club’s annual general meeting will be held this Friday (September 23). Members have been invited to meet at the Nerdy Café in Mardol from 7.30pm. The meeting will feature reports from officers and captains of the club’s over-the-board and online teams over activities over the past season. It is also expected to be confirmed at the meeting how many teams the club will enter in both the local over-the-board and online leagues this season, and there will also be an opportunity to discuss any further business relating to the club. Last season the club fielded just one OTB team that finished bottom of division one of the Shropshire…

Francis Best writes. It struck me recently that we have gained several new club members over the last year or two that some of the established brigade won’t necessarily know.  It’s interesting how the pandemic has changed the shape of the club.  There are those new to chess, or whose interest was rekindled during enforced lockdown and who have recently come to (or back to) over the board chess.  Then there are those who have belonged to the club for years but who have not yet felt able to return to over the board chess, especially since moving to our new venue at the Nerdy Café.  It’s as though there…

Shropshire’s online chess league – which helped several Shrewsbury Chess Club members continue to play competitively during the Covid-19 pandemic – has been saved. Five Shrewsbury club members successfully argued for the online league to be retained for at least another season after a proposal to axe it was raised at the recent Shropshire Chess Association annual general meeting, writes Peter Kitchen. A number of the club’s members have been reluctant to resume over-the-board chess over the past 12 months as they are either shielding or classed as vulnerable to Covid. While Shrewsbury was only able to field one over-the-board team during the 2021/22 campaign, three teams competed online and…

First team captain Francis Best has cemented his stranglehold on Shrewsbury Chess Club Championship by clinching his third title in four years. Best, who came into the event as the top seed, defeated Dan Lockett in a playoff after the two players both finished the five-round tournament on 4/5. It is the fourth time in seven years that Best has won the competition – three of them have been in playoffs after victories over Olusegun Ilesanmi in 2015/16 and Peter Kitchen in 2018/19. It was a painful result for Lockett after a loss in a tight game denied him his first club championship title for eight years. Despite losing with…