Doctor’s orders as Ile picks up a hat trick on opening rapidplay night
Olusegun Ilesanmi picked up three wins out of three as opening night hosts Shrewsbury A made a solid start to the new Shropshire Rapidplay Chess League season.
On a night when the club welcomed Maddocks A, Oswestry A and Darwinian Knights A to Cromwell’s for the season curtain-raiser, “Dr Ile” defeated Munroe Morrison on board two against Maddocks in the opening fixture before chipping in with important victories on board three in the next two rounds.
His efforts helped Shrewsbury pick up their first points of the season in the final round of the night with a 2.5-1.5 win over town rivals Darwinian Knights, writes Peter Kitchen.
The hosts found the remainder of the evening hard going. They opened with a 3-1 defeat against Maddocks A, and pushed Oswestry A closer before falling to a 2.5-1.5 defeat.
The Darwinian win was especially important, as Shrewsbury must sit out the next three nights of rapidplay league action before they playa gain at Telford on January 14.
Staff at the venue also put on a terrific spread of food that went down very well with all of the players, while a busy club night was also held in the bar as the rapidplay games took place.
Captain Dan Lockett was able to rotate his squad to give five first teamers action over the three matches, which were all played with a time limit of 20 minutes for all moves with no increment. Four of the league’s eight teams were present, and each played each other once over the three rounds.
The night started badly with defeat against a Maddocks side who ended the night top of the fledgling division one table. Mark Smith was beaten swiftly by Glyn Pugh on board three, although Ilesanmi equalised with a win in a wild tactical game against the usually rock solid Morrison on board two.
However, Peter Kitchen was ground down by Tony Preece on top board and Lockett was defeated by Gary White on bottom board.
Against Oswestry A, Shane Greenwood came into the side on board two with Smith rested. But despite an excellent win for Ilesanmi over the experienced Richard Bryant, Shrewsbury still came up short.
Lockett drew with Julie van Kemenade on bottom board, but Kitchen again came off second best on top board, this time on the end of a fine tactical finish from Robert Clark on top board. Greenwood was also defeated by the wily Rudy van Kemenade on board two, and Shrewsbury had lost their opening two matches.
On paper, the Darwinian Knights match was Shrewsbury’s best chance of a result. But Kitchen’s difficult night got a whole lot worse as he was comprehensively outplayed with the white pieces by Darwinian captain Matthew Clark to end the night with a demoralising three defeats.
But things turned around on the remaining boards. Ilesanmi beat junior Rudi Bedford on board three, and after the returning Smith drew with James Holyhead on board four, Greenwood produced a fine finish to defeat Nathan Jeukens on board two to seal the match in Shrewsbury’s favour.
Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Shrewsbury A 1-3 Maddocks A (P Kitchen (b) 0-1 T Preece, O Ilesanmi (w) 1-0 M Morrison, M Smith (b) 0-1 G Pugh, D Lockett (w) 0-1 G White); Oswestry A 3-1 Darwinian Knights A.
Darwinian Knights A 1.5-2.5 Maddocks A; Shrewsbury A 1.5-2.5 Oswestry A (P Kitchen (b) 0-1 R Clark, S Greenwood (w) 0-1 R van Kemenade, O Ilesanmi (b) 1-0 R Bryant, D Lockett (w) 0.5-0.5 J van Kemenade).
Maddocks A 3-1 Oswestry A; Darwinian Knights A 1.5-2.5 Shrewsbury A (M Clark 1-0 P Kitchen (w), N Jeukens 0-1 S Greenwood (b), R Bedford 0-1 O Ilesanmi (w), J Holyhead 0.5-0.5 M Smith (b)).