Super Shane quick off the mark in hunt of a double
Shane Greenwood took the first step towards a trophy double by winning Shrewsbury Chess Club’s inaugural summer quickplay tournament.
Greenwood (pictured on the right) won a tense playoff against Olusegun Ilesanmi after both players had finished the regular tournament on 6/7, writes Peter Kitchen.
The decider itself went right down to the wire, with Greenwood having just three seconds left as Ilesanmi ran out of time.
And with Greenwood a point clear in the club championship with the final round games now under way, he could yet seal a notable double by winning both tournaments. He has the white pieces against Fred Bennett in his final game, and the chasing pack must hope Greenwood loses to have any chance of forcing a playoff.
The outcome at the end of the quickplay was particularly harsh on Ilesanmi, who had raced out of the blocks winning his first five games – including a triumph over Greenwood – before a loss against tournament organiser Dan Lockett allowed Greenwood to catch up.
But the tight finish was a fitting end to an extremely competitive tournament, which featured 16 players and a fair few upsets along the way.
Players had five minutes thinking time for each game with no increment, which quickly led to some mad scrambles and the odd illegal move thrown in as players acclimatised to the blitz format.
Lockett rounded out the top three on 5.5/7, and although those players were some way clear of the rest of the field, there were some other notable performances. David Walton shared fourth place with 4/7, while both Ian Davies and Nick Nuthall will have been happy with 3.5/7 and a share of seventh place.
More encouragingly, the overwhelming feeling among members was that it had been a very positive evening and one they would be happy to repeat in future.
Lockett said it had been a “very enjoyable” evening for everyone involved.
He said: “Well done to everyone and especially our finalists. There were some great fun games on the night.”
Final standings:
1 Shane Greenwood: 6/7*; 2 Olusegun Ilesanmi: 6/7; 3 Dan Lockett: 5.5/7; 4= Mark Smith, Peter Kitchen & David Walton: 4/7; 7= David Edwards, Nick Nuthall & Ian Davies: 3.5/7; 10= Kate Beard, Richard Beard, Tom Maiden & Patrick Fitch: 3/7; 14. Ben Howells: 2/7; 15= Tom Osenton & Gwynn Price-Rowlands: 1/7.
*Won playoff.