Glorious Greenwood completes a clean sweep to secure maiden title
When Shane Greenwood finally broke Fred Bennett’s resistance in a rook and pawn endgame last Wednesday, he created his own little piece of history.
Not only had he secured his first ever Shrewsbury Chess Club Championship title, but he’d also managed a clean sweep with five wins out of five.
That’s got the club’s historians scrabbling through the records to see the last time a player managed that feat – it certainly hasn’t happened in the post-Covid era, writes Peter Kitchen.
What makes Greenwood’s achievement even more spectacular is that he managed to beat three established first team players along the way, making a mockery of his current ECF rating of 1676.
But “Super Shane” certainly didn’t have things all his own way against a revitalised Bennett, who pushed Greenwood all the way in what was arguably the toughest game Shane faced all tournament.
Greenwood went into the game a point clear of the chasing pack and knowing that a draw would be enough to clinch a first club championship title.
For a while, it looked like Bennett may seize the initiative with the black pieces, as he advanced his pawns on both sides of the board and gained space during the late middlegame.
But after a liquidation into a rook and pawn endgame, Greenwood crucially had an extra pawn and managed to grind out a victory in the ending that followed.
On becoming champion, Greenwood said “Yes it obviously feels great to have won with a 100% record, especially with the opponents I had to face. The game against Freddie was the most tense given the situation, but the toughest was against Dan, which really could have gone either way. And I thought I played probably my best game against Peter.”
Greenwood’s journey to the title started back in January with victory with black over C team player Tom Osenton.
But he claimed an eye-catching scalp in round two by beating the previous year’s joint-winner Olusegun Ilesanmi with white, and followed that up with a spectacular mating attack to beat top seed Peter Kitchen with the white pieces in round three.
He then backed that up by beating A team captain Dan Lockett with the black pieces in round four, leaving him on the brink of glory before completing the set against Bennett in the final round.
With just two final round games to play, the final table is starting to take shape – and there have been a few surprises.
Ivor Salter created an upset by beating A team player Mark Smith with the black pieces to finish on an impressive 3.5/5, an achievement matched by the club’s honorary president Tony Purser after he defeated Ben Howells with black in the final round. C team player Richard Beard won the battle of the board against his wife Kate to also finish on 3.5/5.
Ilesanmi and Lockett are due to compete for the chance to finish second outright in their final round game – both are currently on 3/4.