Peter Kitchen writes.
A battling win from skipper Mark Smith helped Shrewsbury B to a tight 2-1 win over title rivals Telepost C – and helped extend his side’s lead at the top of Shropshire Online Chess League division two to five points.
Smith won a see-saw battle with the black pieces against Peter Westhead on top board in the only decisive game of the match to clinch the points for his side.
It also took the shine off a unique moment for the Westhead family. This match was the first time brothers Peter and John – who lined up on boards one and two for Telepost – had played in a match together as Peter lives outside the local area.
Earlier Stephen Priestley had battled hard to draw a difficult position with John Westhead on board two. On bottom board, Ivor Salter missed two gilt-edged chances to break through against John Casewell – and the final one was costly as it enabled both players to queen a pawn (rather than just Salter) and the resulting endgame was agreed drawn after 66 moves.
The result extends Shrewsbury B’s unbeaten run to nine games and they now lead Oswestry C by five points.
But with seven of the side’s 16 league fixtures still to be played, there is still plenty of time for that gap to be whittled away and lots of work still to be done.
Shrewsbury C unfortunately had to default their match against Telepost B due to player availability issues, and have now slipped to eighth in the nine-team table.
Both the club’s B and C sides are due to next be in action in the week starting April 18 and again it will be Telepost sides providing the opposition. Shrewsbury B will face Telepost D and Shrewsbury C will play Telepost C, with both Shrewsbury teams the nominated “away” sides.
Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Shrewsbury B 2-1 Telepost C
1.Mark Smith (b) 1-0 Peter Westhead
2.Stephen Priestley (w) 0.5-0.5 John Westhead
3.Ivor Salter (b) 0.5-0.5 John Casewell
Shrewsbury C 0-3 Telepost B (match defaulted)