Shrewsbury B’s survival hopes were given a significant boost by a crucial victory away to Telepost C. The two sides went into the match separated by just one point and one place- the hosts were in fifth, whilst the visitors were sixth – one place above the relegation zone. They were, however, boosted by the fact that all three of their players who had entered the excellent Shropshire Congress over the preceding two days had come away with prizes – Francis Rooney finishing on 4/5 in the minor, securing joint third with 4 others and sharing the under 115 grading prize and congress-wide best Junior prize with Jonathan Newey; Matt Best winning joint first in the same section with 4.5/5 and Ivor Salter scoring an exceptional 3.5/5 in the Major (under 161) and so secured a grading prize.
Things got off to a flying start for Shrewsbury, as Francis opened his account for the club this season at the third time of asking against Alan Cliff in just 18 moves. Francis played a King’s Gambit, and Alan followed with Nc6 before playing the questionable f6, allowing Francis a boost in impetus. Pieces were swapped off in due course, letting Francis open up the a-file and gain a threatening attack on Alan’s a7 pawn. Alan then castled Queenside, leaving the a7 pawn undefended, and Francis pinched it with his rook, threatening a back rank mate. Alan overlooked it, and so Francis won to put Shrewsbury 1-0 up.
However, things were not quite as rosy on the other boards. The two captains went head to head on board four, with Matt up against John Casewell. John opened with the English, and Matt went slightly wrong, allowing John to crank up the pressure gradually throughout the game.
Meanwhile, on board three, Norman O’Connor was up against Charles Micallef. He looked to have a slight edge, but had used up a considerable amount of time doing so, and as the game progressed and the clocks ran down, they agreed a draw. Meanwhile, on board two, Ivor was facing John Westhead, another who had impressed at the congress. Similarly to the game a board below, it appeared the Shrewsbury man may have had a slight edge, but it was not enough to get a clear, winning advantage and the game petered out into a draw.
Top board pitted Mark Smith against Vinny Crean in a rematch of the board two game in the return fixture earlier this season (Telepost had won 4-1). It was a brilliant game – both players threw all pieces forward, amid a host of tactical possibilities, with Mark’s king marauding its way to d3. In the end, although the advantage had swung from one player to another throughout, Vinny managed to secure the win to haul Telepost level.
It meant it all came down to board 4. John had been steadily building the pressure for 40 moves, to the stage where he appeared to have a clear advantage with a pawn surging through to the 7th rank. Eventually, Matt managed to force it off along with the remaining rook and minor piece each player had, to leave the ending as a simple King and Pawn. Matt’s King was closer to John’s passed but isolated pawn on the c-file, enabling him to win it, putting him a pawn up. He then sacrificed a pawn in order to force John’s King out of the way, enabling him to force home his h-pawn at the expense of his two remaining pawns. This meant the position remaining was Matt having a Queen on h1 and King on g2, with John having two connected pawns on the g and h files and his King behind the pawns on the g-file. Matt managed to play the endgame right – just about – and secure the victory for him and his team.
The result lifts Shrewsbury up to 5th, with 6 points from 7 games, and a “goal difference” of +2. The result was made even more important by Priorslee Lions C’s incredible victory over their table-topping B team despite having defaulted board 5, thus lifting them up to 4 points.