The A team faced Wellington A on Wednesday 20th November at the Sir John Bailey Club. A victory would have cemented Shrewsbury’s place at the top of the division and, on paper, this looked perfectly possible.
Things started badly, though, when Francis Best lost to Toby Neal in the first game to finish. In a double-edged position, Best opened up the centre too early, allowing black plenty of activity for his bishop on b7. The pressure against the white king intensified and Neal finished the game with a powerful queen centralisation, winning material or mating the king. 1-0 to Wellington.
Things went from bad to worse when David Everington overlooked a tactic from Colin Roberts on board 2, leading to loss of material. This was a shame as Everington’s Stonewall formation against Roberts’ habitual English had yielded a promising position out of the opening. 2-0 to Wellington.
On board 3, Peter Kitchen and Stefan Tennat were slugging things out in a heavy-piece ending. Just at a point when Kitchen might have secured a rook on an outpost on d6 to secure a lasting advantage, he chose a different move order, allowing Tennant to simplify to a level position. A draw was agreed shortly afterwards, meaning that both bottom boards would have to be settled in the visitors’ favour just to salvage a draw.
This might have been possible as both Shrewsbury players had promising positions. Ivor Salter was a pawn up against Ken Hickmott, although the latter had decent counterplay and a draw was probably likely with best play. Hickmott chose to simplify, however, dissipating much of his activity but still leaving Salter with an extra pawn, each side having a solitary bishop (same coloured). In the ensuing endgame, Salter managed to keep pressing and eventually won the game, leaving the Shrewsbury side with some cause for hope.
In the meantime, on bottom board, the two veterans, Norman O’Connor and Derrick Powell were battling it out in the last game to finish. On the face of it, O’Connor had the better position, with Powell’s c8 bishop largely constrained on its home square and O’Connor’s rook very active on the seventh rank.
As the clocks ran down, Powell managed to free his position and suddenly acquired a lot more activity, even winning a pawn, when the balance seemed to have swung in Wellington’s favour.
Fearing a loss at this stage, O’Connor offered his opponent a draw, not fully realising that this conceded the match, although by this stage, his position would have been tricky to win.
Shrewsbury A 2-3 Wellington A
- F. Best 0-1 T. Neal
- D. Everington 0-1 C. Roberts
- P. Kitchen ½-½ S. Tennant
- I. Salter 1-0 K. Hickmott
- N. O’Connor ½-½ D. Powell