Shrewsbury’s A and B teams face a rare derby clash to start this season’s Shropshire Online Chess League division one campaign.
The club’s top two sides will do battle on Monday (November 7) following the B team’s promotion as runaway division two champions last season, with the A’s as the nominated “home” team, writes Peter Kitchen.
Shrewsbury C will also compete in division two once again this season, and were this week starting with a tough-looking assignment against Telford A.
Division one will have five teams this season, including defending champions Oswestry A, Oswestry B and Telepost A.
Shrewsbury A, who finished second last season, will follow the club derby clash with a game against town rivals Telepost A on November 15 – just four days after the two sides meet in a town derby over-the-board. Shrewsbury B will then also face Telepost two weeks later on November 29.
The reverse club derby will be played on January 9. Shrewsbury B will complete their campaign against Oswestry B on April 13, while Shrewsbury A will conclude against Telepost A on May 29.
The club’s “home” online fixtures will this year be played on Monday evenings to avoid clashes with regular club nights on Fridays.
Oswestry’s Charles Higgie has taken over as the controller of the online league this season.
Despite suggestions of a winter break being mooted at Shropshire Chess Association’s AGM, fixtures have been spread evenly from November until May.
A number of clubs had supported plans to scrap the online league, a proposal eventually defeated following strong arguments put forward by a Shrewsbury delegation at the county AGM. This is reflected in entries this season – Telepost and Newport have each only entered one team, while over-the-board champions Maddocks haven’t entered any.
Meanwhile, fixtures have also been released for Shropshire Rapidplay Chess League. Shrewsbury will field one team in division one, with the opening night being held at Telford on Wednesday next week (November 9).
For more details and for the full fixture list, follow the links for the online league at www.shropshirechess.org