Mixed fortunes on latest voyages for Pirates

Shrewsbury Pirates were unable to build on their first victory of their season, with a defeat in their latest outing mooring them in midtable in 4NCL Online division four.

The Pirates enjoyed a convincing 3-1 win over London Deaf B in round two thanks to wins for Patrick Fitch and Pedro Perez Doninguez with the white pieces. But on Tuesday, they slipped to a narrow 2.5-1.5 defeat at the hands of an evenly-matched Leyland side, writes Peter Kitchen.

Against London Deaf B, Fitch benefited from a blunder out of the opening to take charge of his game against Trent Szilva-Beasley on board two, keeping his foot to the floor to deliver checkmate on move 27. Dominguez won an even wilder game on bottom board in just 15 moves, by which time he had already queened a pawn before winning his opponent’s sole lady thanks to a serious error.

Things were a little more sedate on the remaining boards. On top board, Ivor Salter surprised his opponent and probably all of his clubmates following the game by choosing the Polish Defence (1.d4 b5) with the black pieces. Having missed one tactical opportunity to win material, he took advantage of another chance presented by opponent Oliver Westbury to win a pawn.

But Westbury then sacrificed a second pawn for attacking chances on the kingside. And despite seeing off the initial wave with a better position, Salter remained under a degree of pressure and accepted his opponent’s draw offer knowing it secured the match in the Pirates’ favour.

Tony Purser’s game against Alan Bury on board three was a tense affair. Salter taking advantage of a pin to win his opponent’s e4 pawn on move five, a complex middlegame position arose. Bury missed the chance to play a critical f5 break, then both players missed tactical opportunities for Bury that could have truly opened the game up.

Purser then ultimately won an exchange at a cost of letting Bury finally play f5 and gain serious chances on the kingside. Purser ill-advisedly returned the exchange, which according to the engines threw away any advantage, and the game appeared to settle down after a queen exchange into a level position.

There was still time for one final opportunity – in a rook and same-coloured bishop ending, Bury mistakenly offered a rook exchange which if taken would have given Purser a vastly superior position. But the rooks stayed on the board, and the players repeated the position to agree a draw on move 49.

London Deaf B 1-3 Shrewsbury B

1.Oliver Westbury 0.5-0.5 Ivor Salter (b)

2.Trent Szilva-Beasley 0-1 Patrick Fitch (w)

3.Alan Bury 0.5-0.5 Tony Purser (b)

4.Binyamin Ali 0-1 Pedro Perez Dominguez (w)

Average ratings: London Deaf B 1066 ECF; Shrewsbury Pirates 1471 ECF

The Pirates were unchanged for the round three fixture against a Leyland side that had similar ratings to the Pirates throughout the order.

They got off to a flyer too, as Fitch benefited from a mouse slip from Neil Coward to win in just 18 moves. In fairness to Patrick, he had already obtained a slight edge with the black pieces before his opponent’s error.

But they couldn’t build on this promising start. Salter drew a quiet game against David Leech on top board, and was perhaps fortunate his opponent didn’t make more of a superior bishop ending before exchanging into a drawn king and pawn endgame.

Leyland then turned things around on the bottom two boards. Perez Dominguez made a solid start on the black side of a Dutch Defence on board four before blundering away a piece on move 14. Despite putting up brave resistance, he was eventually ground down by Andrew de Santos and was checkmated on move 49.

Purser was also defeated on board three to seal the match in Leyland’s favour. In a game of mutual inaccuracies against Robert Tinton, Purser found himself in a knight ending a pawn down facing two connected central passed pawns, which he was unable to stop.

Shrewsbury Pirates 1.5-2.5 Leyland

1.Ivor Salter (w) 0.5-0.5 David Leech

2.Patrick Fitch (b) 1-0 Neil Coward

3.Tony Purser (w) 0-1 Robert Tinton

4.Pedro Perez Dominguez (b) 0-1 Andrew de Santos

Average ratings: Shrewsbury Pirates 1471 ECF; Leyland 1486 ECF

The Pirates will next be in action in round four on March 3.