Stephen Priestley’s win against Steve Tarr in the home match against Maddocks A was crucial in holding them to a draw. Stephen has annotated his game here, which can also be accessed through the “Interesting Games” tab.

Ivor Salter produced the shock of a night as Shrewsbury B once again held the club’s A team to a draw in division one of Shropshire Online Chess League. Salter made up a 250-point grading difference to shock Peter Kitchen with the black pieces on board three. With the top two boards finishing as draws, it was enough to ensure the B team drew with their supposedly-superior colleagues for the second time this season. Once again, it was the B’s who might have pinched the victory, as Dan Lockett was fortunate to defeat Richard Vernon on bottom board. The result did little to help either side’s cause, with the A…

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…