Shrewsbury A’s title hopes were all but extinguished after they found themselves on the wrong side of a 3.5-1.5 scoreline away to super-strong Newport A.
Jamie Hopkins’ side were without the services of Peter Kitchen on board 4, so Dan Lockett moved up to board 4 and Ivor Salter, fresh from his impressive performance against Toby Neal for the B Team, filled in on board 4 against Tony Holdford.
However, Ivor was unable to repeat his heroics this time out. He lost a pawn early on in the opening, and struggled from that point. In the end, despite his best efforts, he conceded defeat.
His game was not, however, the first to finish. Francis Best, unbeaten in his last 9 league games, faced Tom Pym on board two – formerly the county’s top player. Although presently ungraded, Pym’s last grade was a formidable 209, so it was clearly going to be Francis’ toughest test yet.
Like Ivor, Francis ran into trouble in the opening. As black in the Sicilian, he was forced to give up the exchange for little counterplay, and despite soldiering on for as long as possible, he resigned before any other games had finished.
At 2-0 down, things were looking pretty grim. Jamie managed to engineer a seemingly winning position on top board against Shropshire number one Nick Rutter, but slipped up in the endgame, allowing Rutter to block up the position and secure a draw by virtue of the opposite coloured bishops despite a two pawn advantage in Jamie’s favour.
The two remaining games were both entertaining, but both finished level. David continued his solid season with a draw against Gavyn Cooper on board three, whereas Dan was up the exchange for a pawn but was just unable to force the win.
Overall, the match was a lot closer than the scoreline may suggest – there were plenty of twists and turns. The result leaves the A Team 4th placed in the first division, 5 points adrift of table-topping Telepost but 6 clear of relegation.
Shrewsbury A 1.5-3.5 Newport A
- J. Hopkins 0.5-0.5 N. Rutter
- F. Best 0-1 T. Pym
- D. Everington 0.5-0.5 G. Cooper
- D. Lockett 0.5-0.5 N. Paul
- I. Salter 0-1 T. Holdford