Thursday 21st November saw Shrewsbury B travel to Newport for the second time in the space of a month to take on Newport B. At least this time we were able to field a full side and were pretty much at full strength. Newport were missing two of their big guns, with neither Athar Ansari nor Tony Holdford available.
The match hinged on the result of two games as the other three were concluded peacefully quite quickly. I saw almost nothing of Ile’s game against Stuart Ross on board one, so am relying on Ile’s comments afterwards. Ile played his normal opening, which it seems Stuart was well prepared for. Stuart got a good position and Ile offered a draw, which was accepted.
Ivor’s position on board five, against fifteen year old Daniel Hilditch Love, came to an ending very early on. Daniel offered a draw but, initially, Ivor elected to carry on, though it was hard to see how he could make progress.
My own game on board three had also reached a level semi-ending. I was quite relieved to get there to be honest. I had been under some pressure out of the opening and think Chris Paul, my opponent, would have done better to keep some of the heavy artillery on. After the exchanges, we had a completely blocked position, with no way for either side to break through. I shuffled the pieces around for a few moves but there was nothing to aim for and we agreed a draw. Shortly afterwards, Ivor bowed to the inevitable and took the draw.
Three games done and dusted by 9.15 and nothing between the teams. On board two, Francis had the more comfortable position against Danny Griffiths and, for a while, it looked as if an attack on the Kingside might happen, though the exchange of Queens reduced that possibility. Soon afterwards, Danny offered a draw but Francis felt (justifiably) that he still had chances and played on, probing to try creating weaknesses in Danny’s position.
The most interesting game (at least for the spectators) was on board two with Peter Kitchen against a player I didn’t know, Shane Greenwood. Apparently, Shane is a strong player who has come back to the game after some years out of the game, something that many of us can relate to. The position was highly complex, with both sides having strengths and weaknesses but Peter’s king position looked like a cause for concern. On the other hand, Peter had a large time advantage; Shane had played some very good moves but they had in practical terms taken him too long. This wasn’t the sort of position one can play well on a 10 second increment!
Meanwhile Francis had continued to manoeuvre, eventually provoking the creation of a fresh weakness by Danny which cost him a Pawn. Often being a Pawn up in a Rook and Pawn ending is not enough to win but this didn’t appear to be the case here as the Pawns were on both sides of the board, Danny’s Rook was a little restricted and Francis’s King was much the more active.
Finally, things came to a head in both games.
Shane lost on time, but take the clocks away, and I still wouldn’t have been sure of the result. Even with the clocks, had Shane been able to hang on for a few more moves, both players would have been down to increment!
Francis continued to press his advantage and eventually Danny had to resign on his 83rd move, a proper chess marathon! Final score Newport B 1.5 Shrewsbury B 3.5. A big result for us, which lifts us to fourth place in the league on four points. Next up Oswestry A, away.
Mark Smith, B Team Captain