Your illustrious B team went top of division 2 on Friday 16th January. A 3½-1½ victory over a much weakened Priorslee Lions B team meant we hit the New Year running, in our quest for promotion, although the match itself wasn’t as straightforward as it might appear.  Priorslee defaulted on bottom board and were missing their three top players, but as the match unfolded, they very nearly pulled off a shock draw. I gave an object lesson on how NOT to play the King’s Gambit against the inexperienced, but rapidly improving and talented Tommy Gilmour.  After he declined the pawn, I then tied myself up in knots completely and Tommy…

While I was busy self-destructing against Peter Kitchen in the club championship (round 2) at the club last Friday, Ian Davies and Norman O’Connor were doing battle in the same event. Norman essayed the Benko gambit, which blew Ian’s opening preparation out of the water. For much of the game, chances were balanced and Norman had the opportunity to gain an advantage at at least one point. However, at a crucial juncture, Norman moved to defensive mode instead of pressing for a counter attack. Ian’s mating threats against the Black King proved too strong and Norman resigned after 38 moves.  It is often said that the winner of a chess…

Shrewsbury A took a step closer to Division 1 safety as an emphatic dispatching of struggling Ludlow ensured Francis Best’s side will spend Christmas in the top half of the table. Boosted by the availability of son Matt – back for Christmas from his university studies at Exeter – Francis was also able to call upon his regular trio of Dan Lockett, David Everington and Peter Kitchen, meaning his side held a grading advantage over their hosts (who had lost all their preceding fixtures this season) on three of the five boards. However, Ludlow still possess a useful side and after a lengthy trip in the driving rain, there was…

Ian Davies, B Team Captain, writes, “The B team have had a superb first half in this season’s Division 2 campaign and are the only unbeaten team in the whole division after our draw against Wellington B on December 10.  We also remain in second place.  We are, nevertheless, under no illusion about how difficult it will be to remain there going into the second half in the New Year.  There are some very strong teams on the pitch and we haven’t played the strongest one yet, so it will be very tough. But as long as we remain focused, keep our eye on the ball and take our chances…

Ian Davies, B Team Captain, reports: “Your illustrious B team climbed into second place in division 2 after it secured a 3½-1½ victory over Telford C on 28th Nov. Mark Smith continued his superb form after a win on top board.  Playing black in a Queen Pawn opening in which White obtained a slight advantage but then went wrong, Mark showed all his experience by winning a King and Pawn end game.  I then made it 2-0 after winning on board 4 against newcomer Rae Roberts.  After I made a right mess of the opening, when my opponent could have simply won a pawn, I couldn’t believe my luck when he…

Team captain Francis Best was unavailable for this match.  David Everington stood in as captain and reports as follows: “Ed never really got going against Richard and ended up with his King surrounded and mate inevitable.  Dan played very well against Brian Whyte but finally lost a tricky double rook ending with both clocks running down.  I got a decent game on the Black side of the Ruy but badly overestimated my chances around move 30 and got punished.  Peter had a very nice miniature – see here or in interesting games – which should be a good morale booster. Mark won on time in a very tense and double…

Only time for a quick update, I’m afraid.  Our most recent match was against Telford A on bonfire night.  There were a few fireworks on the board too, with nice victories from Daniel Lockett against Stuart Ross, and David Everington against Stefan Tennant.  I drew against Dave Gostelow and was able to watch Ivor Salter’s game against Windsor Peck, Peter Kitchen having drawn with Richard Thompson by this stage.  Ivor was a pawn up against Windsor in a rook and pawn ending.  Although “All rook and pawn endings are drawn” is the quip often applied to these endings, this one certainly had winning prospects for Ivor.  After a while, though,…

Ian Davies, B team captain reports: “The B team’s solid start to the new league season continued on Friday night (31st October) as we held a strong Telford B team to a 2½-2½ draw.  This was our “away” fixture to them, but played at our place due to two other matches being played at Telford on the match date.  I decided to treat it as an away match, even though the Telford players thought they were away, as indeed the website states for some reason.  But they weren’t!!  All clear? Good. A slight change to  the team saw Tony Purser coming in on board 5, as “Lethal” Lewis wasn’t feeling…

Francis Best, A team captain, writes: “After the success of our match against Newport, I thought we might have a chance against Telepost A.  However, they managed to field pretty much their strongest team, unlike for the earlier matches in the season (typical!) and we were missing Ed this time. I was soon on the defensive after a dubious opening “innovation” in the Giucco Piano.  Nigel and I have contested this line a few times and it has to be said he has come off better (not always as a result of the opening).  Comes of being a pretty decent player, I suppose!  Anyway, I saw the opportunity for a…

In our second match we were up against last year’s runners up in division 1, Newport.  However, we were able to field our top team, as Ed Goodwin was available for us, so I wasn’t entirely without hope, particularly as Newport were missing two of their big guns, Tom Pym and Gavin Cooper.  I knew I would have a tough fight on my hands, facing the County’s second-highest rated player, Nick Rutter, on board 1, and tough it proved to be! I defended with a Scandinavian, Nick obtained a space advantage and a rook on the seventh rank, as well as control of the open d-file.  Nevertheless, I felt my…