Shrewsbury B faced their first home challenge of the season against Telford B on Friday (7 October).
ECF gradings would have made Shrewsbury favourites before play began and the early exchanges seemed to confirm this.
On board 1, Ile was engaged in a sharp struggle with Richard Szwajkun, both sides moving quickly. On board 2, Dan obtained a nice edge with the White side of an exchange Lopez. On board 4, Peter put his Nf3 to good use and built up a powerful initiative, while on board 5, Tim Skidmore appeared to get the white side of a Scandinavian horribly wrong to Ivor’s benefit. Best of all, Windsor Peck, after an indifferent opening, blundered a piece against me for no apparent compensation whatsoever!
The next piece of news was good; hand to hand fighting on board 1 left Ile with a Pawn that was bound to Queen. Shrewsbury 1-0 up with less than an hour played!
Elsewhere all was not so simple. I was a piece up, true, but the position was totally blocked and I had a few defensive tasks to perform. Peter’s position looked less imposing than it had, Andrew Jones digging in, as he does. Dan and Ivor’s games rapidly approached the critical point.
At this point Telford really dug their heels in. Ivor seemed to lose his way somewhat. An overwhelming middlegame position translating to an ending that was surely won but time-consuming and much harder work than had seemed necessary earlier. Dan continued to dominate but, again, Roger Brown hung on grimly.
I finally appeared to be getting on top but, in all honesty, the annoyance of being a piece up and obviously winning, without being able to finish my opponent off, was beginning to tell on me as I went down to my last 20 minutes, Windsor having about 15 minutes in hand. Then came a stoke of luck: Andrew Jones ‘self mated’ his queen against Peter, just as he appeared to be equalising. 2-0 to Shrewsbury.
Approaching the death and finally Dan succeeded in beating Roger in what looked the best played game of the night. Just as well, from my point of view. I just couldn’t put Windsor away. I missed a big chance on move 40 which may have forced him to resign, though I doubt it. Then I missed a tactic, though even then my position was still winning, but mentally I was shot and Windsor swindled (in the true sporting sense of the word) a win. Meanwhile, Ivor looked to have a tough task to convert to a win when Tim blundered and the final score was 4-1. All in all, a good result with my aberration not costing the team. Next up, Telford A away.
Mark Smith, B Team Captain