New faces but similar story as A team slides to defeat
Two debutants and the return of top board Jamie Hopkins were not enough to stop Shrewsbury A slipping to an unfortunate 3.5-1.5 defeat away to Maddocks A in their opening Shropshire chess League division one match of the campaign.
Defeats for Stephen Priestley and Shane Greenwood proved decisive, as the remaining three games ended in draws and Shrewsbury left Oakengates empty-handed, writes Peter Kitchen.
But despite last season’s problem of not winning boards rearing its head on a night the A team fired blanks, there were plenty of encouraging signs for captain Dan Lockett and his players to take away.
All three of the new signings included in the line-up played well. All three were material up at some stage – and their inclusion meant there was no room in the team for Lockett, who attended as a non-playing captain.
The side also had chances on every board, and in the cases of Priestley and Greenwood playing aggressively and on the front foot, did not bring home the rewards it might have done on another occasion.
Hopkins and Charles Lowick Higgie were also on top for much of the night on their boards before having to settle for draws – and the mood of the night was well summed up by home captain Tony Preece, who admitted afterwards: “I’m not quite sure how we won that match.”
In some respects this was a sort of revenge for Maddocks, who lost the corresponding fixture at Maddocks Sports and Social Club 4-1 last season despite being better on several of the boards.
The first surprise on Thursday night came when Hopkins walked through the door – his re-signing having only been made official earlier in the day. He, Lowick Higgie and Greenwood were the three summer signings to make the line-up, with Peter Kitchen moving down to board three to accommodate the first two and Priestley on board four.
The first game to finish was on board three. Playing on the white side of a Stonewall Dutch, Kitchen found himself up against one of the hardest players to break down in the county in former county champion Simon Maydew.
Kitchen claimed extra space and built up pressure on the queenside, but a clever knight manoeuvre enabled Maydew to fight back on the kingside and force e3 and f4 from white. He offered a draw on move 19, which Kitchen prudently took in a level, mostly blocked position. Peter is still waiting to make his first exchange of the season, as not a single piece came off the board.
At that stage, things were looking good for the visitors. Hopkins had a positional advantage over home captain Tony Preece on board one, Lowick Higgie was involved in a complex battle with Glyn Pugh on board two, and Greenwood was pushing hard against Gary White on bottom board.
But it was Maddocks who forged ahead with arguably the game and performance of the night. Stephen Priestley had appeared to equalise with the black pieces against Steve Tarr on board four. But he inadvisably grabbed a free pawn on a2 which sidelined his queen temporarily – and what happened next was nothing short of spectacular.
Tarr sacrificed a rook to draw Priestley’s king out into the open – and in no time the black monarch had been sent on a journey from h8 all the way to b1 and a2.
With mate threatened, Priestley returned the material and managed to get his king out of the cage. But Tarr then cleverly exchanged the queens and remaining pair of rooks to transpose to a won king and pawn ending. A superb effort by the Maddocks man.
As hard as they tried, Shrewsbury ultimately couldn’t claw back the deficit. Lowick Higgie won a knight for a pawn against Pugh, but in a crazy, open and tactical game Pugh had real counter chances of his own before the pair agreed a draw.
Hopkins remained better on the board against Preece, but his clock was very much against him. While Preece had some 40 minutes left, Hopkins had to play several moves off increments and at one point had just two seconds remaining.
Having turned down one draw offer, Hopkins eventually agreed to a second offer of a ceasefire with a drawn position about to be forced. He had 28 seconds left compared to his opponents 30 minutes – but it was a fine effort considering it was his first competitive game for more than four-and-a-half years.
That left all hopes resting on Greenwood – but despite winning the exchange, he suddenly found himself facing very dangerous counterplay from the wily White. A clever tactic enabled White to give up his queen for two rooks and then force a won knight ending with an extra pawn. But this was still an extremely strong performance from Greenwood, who will no doubt be a tough prospect for opponents on the lower boards in division one.
Lockett said: “It was great to see Jamie back and Charles and Shane on debut.
“Four of the games really could have ended very differently, and if Stephen had escaped Steve Tarr’s attack, it would have been a trick worthy of Houdini.”
Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Maddocks A 3.5-1.5 Shrewsbury A
1. Tony Preece 0.5-0.5 Jamie Hopkins (w)
2. Glyn Pugh 0.5-0.5 Charles Lowick Higgie (b)
3. Simon Maydew 0.5-0.5 Peter Kitchen (w)
4. Steve Tarr 1-0 Stephen Priestley (b)
5. Gary White 1-0 Shane Greenwood (w)
Shrewsbury A are next in action on Wednesday (October 9) when they make the short journey down Wyle Cop for the first town derby of the season away to reigning champions Telepost A. It promises to be a cracking match!