Deciding board defeat proves decisive

A loss on the final board to finish sentenced Shrewsbury B to defeat in a tense clash at home to Newport B.

David Edwards was the unfortunate man to lose – making an error in opponent Lewis Clarke’s time trouble that proved to be the decisive moment in their board three encounter.

It meant the Bs slipped to a 2.5-1.5 home defeat – but Richard Vernon’s side can take great encouragement from a competitive display against a side expecting to be challenging for honours in Shropshire Chess League division three, writes Peter Kitchen.

Having fallen behind on a night where most of the games went close to the distance, Shrewsbury equalised thanks to a win for Ivor Salter on top board and had chances on the remaining boards before things turned in the final moments.

The visitors had finished third in division two last season, but surprisingly opted to drop down a division over the summer.

They arrived at Cromwell’s Tap House on the back of a 4-0 win over Newport Junior B in their opening match – and bolstered their side for this encounter by welcoming back Phil Love and Colin Parker on the top two boards.

Shrewsbury’s side showed just one change from the opening day 3-1 win over Telford C – Ian Davies replaced Nick Holmes in the line-up, with Salter moving up a board to play board one.

After two hours of play, it was Newport who drew first blood. Vernon had missed an opportunity to gain a clear edge on move 12 against Malcolm Price, but later in the game made a miscalculation that saw his rook sidelined on the edge of the board, which ultimately led to his defeat.

With the final three games going deep into the night, Salter came up trumps by levelling the scores with a win over Love on top board.

At this stage things were looking good for the hosts – Davies was a piece up against Parker, and although Edwards was struggling on the board his opponent Clarke was fast running out of time.

But then the situation swung around on both boards. With both players into their final six minutes and Davies slightly behind on the clock, the Shrewsbury man accepted a draw offer.

Clarke was then down to his final minute against Edwards – but the 10 second increments for each move enabled him to keep going, and when Edwards erred, Clarke was able to see it through and take Newport to victory.

Vernon said all the games had been extremely tight, and he will hope his side can bounce back when they travel to bottom-of-the-table Newport Junior B on Tuesday.

Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):

Shrewsbury B 1.5-2.5 Newport B

1.Ivor Salter (b) 1-0 Phil Love

2.Ian Davies (w) 0.5-0.5 Colin Parker

3.David Edwards (b) 0-1 Lewis Clarke

4.Richard Vernon (w) 0-1 Malcolm Price