Shrewsbury Chess Club

Shrewsbury chess club got off to its usual unofficial launch to the season with our traditional (after a break of a couple of years) friendly versus Telepost. As is usual, there were a couple of free transfers to even up the numbers with Peter Crean and Martin Ayres honorary Shrewsbury members for the evening.  As there was an odd number of players, Keith Tabner stood aside, which was very nice of him, as he’d organised the whole thing.  Scores were as follows in board order: Nigel Ferrington 1-0 Francis Best Matthew Clark   ½-½ Mark Smith Steve Kempsell  0-1 Peter Crean John Westhead ½-½ Ivor Salter Quentin Mills.   ½-½…

Shrewsbury B missed out on promotion to the first Division and a possible title against the odds in agonising fashion in the final game of the Division 2 season. Having led the field for almost all the season, Telepost B denied Ian Davies’ side a famous season with a hard-fought win in the final game, the title going instead to a Ludlow side strengthened by several highly-rated players joining from other clubs with Newport B joining them in gaining promotion to the top flight, so congratulations to those two sides and best of luck in the first division next season. With “captain fantastic” Ian running away to Scotland and duo…

The B team has moved towards touching distance of promotion to Division 1 after our 4.5-0.5 win over already relegated Church Stretton B. We are now 3 points clear of our 2 nearest rivals with 2 matches left.  A forgone conclusion you might think, yet it could still all go horribly wrong (forever the optimist!) as we face the very strong Ludlow A and then Telepost B in our last match. The match between Telepost B and Newport B could even see us promoted without even playing, should Telepost win. Even a draw should do it for us because of our superior board count difference but, as every football manager…

The B team remains on top of Division 2 after a narrow victory over Telford B on Friday night by 3-2, but not without  a moment of controversy  even before a pawn was pushed! After a newspaper column stating the supposedly “raised eyebrows” caused by my decision to play Spanish student Celia on board 1 against Telepost B, I was informed by the Telford team that, as far as they were concerned, Dr Ile was ineligible  to play for us, as he had already appeared 6 times for the A team, even though he was officially classed as ungraded until January when he received  a grade of 162.  I therefore  intended…

The B team went back to the top of division 2 this week after a superb 4-1 away victory against leaders Newport B. This brings our total tally against them to 9-1. We are now a point clear of our two nearest rivals and 2 points clear of third place and with a game in hand on all of them. Ludlow A lurks menacingly in the background, 3 points behind (same number of matches as us), so it is still all to play for and the final run to the end of the season promises to be an exciting, nail-biting affair.  Could this be our year? Mark continued  his great…

Your illustrious B team secured its second 5-0 win of the season when we played Priorslee B on Monday 11th January. Priorslee did default two boards in all fairness, but that’s not our problem! Ile secured the 2 points after first winning a piece and later forcing his opponent either to lose his queen or resign. The Priorslee captain chose the latter option.  Mark then neatly checkmated George Viszokai with his heavy pieces on the h-file but all the real action was going on on my board where, after a disappointing Congress, playing stodgy, soulless chess, I decided to “go for it” with the King’s Gambit.  It was like watching…

A very successful first half to our season has now come to an end and we stand on top, leading by one point, but like last season we all know how quickly that can change. I, for one, am under no illusion that it will, so let’s congratulate  ourselves on what we have achieved so far. The Spanish Armada has now sailed back home, but this time undefeated, and the team owes our senorita Celia a huge debt of gratitude for helping to put us there. She will be very much missed but things go on and we must make sure that all of her efforts were not in vain…

A never to be forgotten  night of chess was played out at the Telepost club on Monday night (7th December) when the B team took on the leaders, Telepost B, and took both points after a dazzling finale. Celia was given the honour of playing board 1, as it was her last appearance  for us and she has done so much for the team and club since she has been here. Mark, playing on board 3, was first to finish after missing out on a winning attack and then having to settle for a draw. My game on board 5 against Andrew Lewis was the complete opposite. A bit like…

On another memorable  night of chess, the B team pulled of a dramatic 3-2 win over the strong Ludlow A team to elevate us into second place in the division, just behind our next opponents, Telepost B. We could conceivably go into the Christmas break as leaders. Norman got the ball rolling on board 4, when he and his opponent agreed a draw because neither could make any headway. The less said about my abject attempt to play the Dutch defence the better. I think it’s time to consign it to the dustbin.  All credit to my opponent, who played some nice moves, including a delayed rook sacrifice, which completely…

On account of the unavailability of four regular A team players, no fewer than three members of the B team were drafted in to take on the mighty Newport A, plus Peter Kitchen, who is currently out of chess action normally, because of work and family commitments.  A team regular, Mark Smith, found himself elevated to board one in the absence of most of his usual colleagues. I was first to finish after playing some of the best chess I have in a long time, by completely  crushing my opponent with the Grand Prix attack which, on a very stormy, windswept night (thought the windows were going to come out…