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Purser Fights Back from the Brink to Hand C Team First Win

Tony Purser unbelievably fought back from losing his queen to win the deciding game and give Shrewsbury C their first Shropshire Online League division two victory of the season.

Purser’s heroics helped the C team defeat Newport A 2-1 to hand Richard Vernon his first victory as the side’s captain, writes Peter Kitchen.

But there was despair for Shrewsbury B in division one as they narrowly lost 2.5-1.5 to rivals Telepost A. Defeats for Nathanael Paul and Mark Smith proved their undoing, and Smith’s side is still searching for a first win of the campaign.

Purser, playing on board two for the C team, looked down and out when he missed a tactic and had to give up his queen for a rook on move 35 of his game against Dave Lovegrove.

But he kept fighting and forced an error that saw him win his opponent’s queen in return for a bishop 10 moves later. Purser reached an ending the exchange up and coolly saw it home to checkmate Lovegrove on move 70.

Earlier Norman O’Connor had got Shrewsbury off to a flyer, unleashing a fine tactic to win two pawns en route to a swift win over Andy Jones on top board.

But Newport had drawn level when Vernon lost an entertaining tussle on the black side of a Sokolsky Opening against Malcolm Price on bottom board.

For Shrewsbury B, not even being able to field Paul – the club’s strongest player – was enough to see them over the line. Paul suffered a second online defeat with the white pieces at the hands of Telepost’s Matthew Clark in the space of a week on top board.

Smith also went down to Rob Nield on board two, ultimately unable to prevent his opponent’s kingside attack in a Ruy Lopez middlegame from breaking through.

Stephen Priestley was the star performer for Shrewsbury, securing a fine victory over Cesar Pileggi on board three.

Having seized considerable space on both sides of the board in the early middlegame and establishing a strong knight on d5, Priestley won a key pawn on the queenside.

He then took advantage as Pileggi tried to break into the centre, coming up with a lovely tactical blow that quickly led to victory.

On board four, Ivor Salter struggled to make headway with the black pieces against Matthew Ryan. A tight game led to a double rook ending that finished with a draw by repetition after 36 moves.

For Telepost, the result was sweet revenge for a similarly narrow defeat at the hands of Shrewsbury A six days earlier – and perhaps vindication of their policy of giving relatively new and unknown players the chance to gain experience in the online league.

Full scores:

Telepost A 2.5-1.5 Shrewsbury B (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)

1.Matthew Clark 1-0 Nathanael Paul (w)

2.Rob Nield 1-0 Mark Smith (b)

3.Cesar Pileggi 0-1 Stephen Priestley (w)

4.Matthew Ryan 0.5-0.5 Ivor Salter (b)

Shrewsbury C 2-1 Newport A (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)

1.Norman O’Connor (b) 1-0 Andy Jones

2.Tony Purser (w) 1-0 Dave Lovegrove

3.Richard Vernon (b) 0-1 Malcolm Price

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