New leadership unveiled as old guard step down

A new leadership group have been unveiled to take Shrewsbury Chess Club forward for the coming year.

Peter Kitchen, David Edwards and Stephen Priestley were voted in as secretary, treasurer and club championship organiser respectively at the club’s annual general meeting.

While it marks the start of what is hoped will be a bright future for the club, it does represent the end of an era with previous incumbents Mark Smith, Ivor Salter and Tony Purser stepping down from their roles after many years of continuous service.

The club would like to place on record its thanks to all three of them for their sterling work, which included keeping the club going throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other highlights at the meeting included Richard Vernon being presented with the David Everington Award for his outstanding contribution to the club over the past year. Vernon not only led the reformed B team back into Shropshire Chess League, but was also the driving force in securing the club’s move to Cromwell’s earlier this year.

Teams were confirmed for the various competitions and captains put in place for the coming year. Dan Lockett and Richard Vernon will remain the club’s A and B team captains in over-the-board competitions, while the club will enter just one team in Shropshire Online Chess League with Olusegun Ilesanmi taking over as its captain.

In total, 11 club members attended an upbeat and positive meeting at the club’s Cromwell’s Tap House venue on Wednesday last week.

The main area of concern for the club was the appointment of new officers, with the main triumvirate of Smith, Salter and Purser having all indicated many months ago that they wished to hand over the reins.

In his pitch to become secretary, Kitchen spoke of his desire to help grow the club over the coming years, and that while it would be an aim for the first team to stay in division one of Shropshire Chess League, the long term aim would be to increase membership and appeal to more juniors and women.

He also pledged to help improve organisation by bringing in a monthly club newsletter and to create a selection committee including team captains.

The club agreed to continue to field teams in divisions one and three of Shropshire Chess League – the A team having been handed a reprieve from relegation despite finishing in the bottom two last season when division two champions Maddocks B declined promotion.

It was noted how well the B team had performed for most of the season in division three, only to fall away late on due to player unavailability and defaults. It meant a potential top two challenge became a final finish of sixth out of nine teams.

But there were successes for the club during the season, not least the A team winning Shropshire Online Chess League division one title for the first time on points difference from both Oswestry A and Oswestry B. Shrewsbury A also finished a competitive fourth in division one of Shropshire Rapidplay Chess League, and the club intends to field two rapidplay league teams next season.

One of Smith’s final acts as secretary was to present the David Everington Award to Vernon. It was Smith who had nominated Vernon, who was congratulated for his hard work behind the scenes securing the move to Cromwell’s after our unfortunate enforced departure from Albert & Co @ Frankville earlier in the year.

Vernon was also praised for his efforts in his first year as a team captain, and for the tenacity and perseverance he has shown to improve his own game.