Shrewsbury Chess Club has issued an urgent player appeal ahead of Tuesday’s crunch Shropshire Chess League division one clash away to Newport. The club is struggling to fill all five boards for the match due to a combination of illness, player unavailability and wariness over playing over the board due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Club officials are keen to give someone the chance to play competitive chess at division one level rather than default a board and deprive someone of a match. An appeal has already been made to the club’s existing players and the net has been cast wider by a call to arms on social media via the…

Peter Kitchen writes. A battling win from skipper Mark Smith helped Shrewsbury B to a tight 2-1 win over title rivals Telepost C – and helped extend his side’s lead at the top of Shropshire Online Chess League division two to five points. Smith won a see-saw battle with the black pieces against Peter Westhead on top board in the only decisive game of the match to clinch the points for his side. It also took the shine off a unique moment for the Westhead family. This match was the first time brothers Peter and John – who lined up on boards one and two for Telepost – had played…

A spectacular victory from captain Francis Best was not enough to stop Maddocks A from being crowned Shropshire Chess League champions for the first time in seven years. Best demolished the defences of Adrian Zdanowski on board two to put the bottom-of-the-table hosts into the lead after Dan Lockett and visiting skipper Glyn Pugh had agreed a peaceful 17-move draw on board four. But Maddocks roared back with convincing victories on the remaining boards to seal a 3.5-1.5 victory and mathematically ensure a first league title since 2015 and their first in their current guise – their last title was won while they were competing as Priorslee Lions. Oswestry’s 3-2…

Shrewsbury are the surprise early pacesetters in Shropshire Rapidplay League, opening up an early two-point cushion after the first two evenings. The county town side picked up a 2-2 draw against local rivals Telepost and a default victory over Newport, who were unable to raise a side due to Covid cases in their camp, at the latest evening of matches held at Telford Chess Club. But the night did end on a disappointing note for Shrewsbury with a 2.5-1.5 loss to Telford. Francis Best’s side has benefitted from two default victories in their first six fixtures, and there is still plenty of chess to be played with other very competitive…

Shrewsbury B have extended their lead at the top of Shropshire Online Chess League to four points thanks to a comfortable 2.5-0.5 win over town rivals Telepost B. Stephen Priestley and Ivor Salter picked up the victories to extend the B team’s unbeaten run to eight games – and they’ve fielded the same three players in all of those matches. But it wasn’t such a happy week for Shrewsbury C who, despite getting a 1-0 headstart through a bottom board default, fell to a 2-1 loss to promotion-chasing Telford A. The B’s made the most of Oswestry C slipping up earlier in the week against Telepost C to increase their…

Peter Kitchen writes. They gave it their best shot – but Shrewsbury’s first teamers couldn’t stop Telepost A from gaining derby day revenge, battling gamely before falling to a 4-1 defeat. Chasing a unique quadruple in the county town’s “El Chessico”, Shrewsbury pushed their full-strength hosts hard on four of the boards. Dan Lockett provided Shrewsbury’s highlight of the evening, beating John Bashall with the black pieces on board four to draw the score level at 1-1 with plenty of play left in the other games. But Telepost then showed their class to grind out victories on the top three boards, leaving Shrewsbury rooted to the foot of the Shropshire…

An eye-catching victory over runaway Shropshire Chess League leaders, Maddocks A, was the highlight for Shrewsbury as the club hosted the first rapidplay league meeting of the season. The home side won a tight match 2.5-1.5 thanks won wins for Dan Lockett and Mark Smith and Peter Kitchen’s draw with Adrian Zdanowski. In total, the club fielded seven players across two four-board matches, including a welcome return for father and son James and Harvey Birch. Shrewsbury were awarded a 4-0 walkover in the opening round as Telepost failed to field a team, before beating Maddocks A in round two and slipping to a 2.5-1.5 defeat to Maddocks B in round…

The chess equivalent of T20 cricket will come to town when Shrewsbury Chess Club hosts the first round of this season’s Shropshire Rapidplay League tonight (Friday). Shrewsbury will play two Maddocks teams and one Telepost team at Nerdy Café – with all of the four-board matches being played under much quicker time controls than standard league chess. Players will either have a straight 20 minutes to play all of their moves, or if captains agree 10 minutes thinking time with 10 seconds increment per move. While this is slow compared to some online time controls, it is much quicker than the standard league format – all moves in one hour…

Peter Kitchen writes. The top two seeds in Shrewsbury Chess Club Championship have been drawn to face each other in a potentially pivotal tie. Tournament leader and defending champion Francis Best will defend his 100 per cent record in this year’s competition with the black pieces against Peter Kitchen. Both players achieved significant victories in round two. Best ground down Dan Lockett with the white pieces in a positional struggle, while Kitchen came out in top in a more open, tactical affair as black against third seed Mark Smith. Games between the pair are usually tight affairs – and strangely all but one of their competitive encounters spanning more than…

Shrewsbury B returned to the summit of Shropshire Online Chess League division two after a tense, nervy victory over fellow promotion contenders Telford A. The player with the white pieces won on all three boards, meaning the B’s scraped home 2-1 to move back above Oswestry C and restore their two-point lead at the top of the table. Ivor Salter won the critical game on bottom board, defeating Richard Thompson in an opposite coloured bishops endgame despite having been on the back foot for much of the game. The experienced Thompson had previously missed opportunities to press home his advantage in a complex ending both with the queens on and…