Shrewsbury B slipped to another defeat in division one of Shropshire Online Chess League – this time at the hands of Oswestry B.
Captain Mark Smith was outgunned by a spectacular attack by Rudy van Kemenade on board two, and Ivor Salter was ground down by Peter Fisher in a long ending in 74 moves on bottom board, writes Peter Kitchen.
Shrewsbury’s only joy came with the black pieces. Nathanael Paul drew with Charles Lowick Higgie on top board and Stephen Priestley shared the spoils with Peter Lovatt on board three.
In both of these games the Shrewsbury player was a pawn down in an ending but in a technically balanced position.
It leaves Shrewsbury B bottom of the division one table with just one point from their opening three matches.
The two teams were evenly matched on gradings, although Van Kemenade’s online rating is considerably lower than his more accurate over-the-board one and his class swiftly told on board two.
In an open game, Smith found himself in a slightly inferior position out of the opening. But a couple of inaccuracies as van Kemenade built up a kingside attack allowed the Oswestry man to sacrifice a knight in spectacular style on g2, ripping open the defences around Smith’s king. Checkmate was delivered on move 28.
Salter got off to a promising start on the white side of his favoured Smith-Morra Gambit against the Sicilian, and missed a tactical opportunity to make progress on move 16. He later made up his pawn deficit by exchanging a rook for two minor pieces on the c-file, but play then became unclear as both players made inaccuracies in a complicated middlegame.
Unfortunately, it was Salter who made the first big mistake and play transposed into an ending where his weak pawns dropped off the board. He resigned after dropping a piece on move 74.
On top board, Paul was on the back foot for a lot of the night against Oswestry captain Higgie. But despite losing a pawn in a complex middlegame on move 25, the resultant position was dynamically level, and once all the rooks were exchanged a draw was agreed on move 32.
Priestley maintained a solid position out of the opening against Lovatt on board three, successfully neutralising his opponent’s d5 pawn advance but also accepting a position where he had two knights and a bishop versus Lovatt’s two bishops and a knight.
A dubious …b4 push cost Priestley his a-pawn, but he was able to exchange off one of his knights for a bishop. Despite his pawn advantage, Lovatt had only a fractional edge to show for it and the spoils were shared on move 41.
Full scores:
Shrewsbury B 1-3 Oswestry B (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)
1.Nathanael Paul (b) 0.5-0.5 Charles Lowick Higgie
2.Mark Smith (w) 0-1 Rudy van Kemenade
3.Stephen Priestley (b) 0.5-0.5 Peter Lovatt
4.Ivor Salter (w) 0-1 Peter Fisher
The B team’s next fixture will be the inter-club derby with Shrewsbury A on January 9.