Shrewsbury B took a massive step towards securing survival with a narrow victory over town rivals Telepost B in the latest installment of the Shrewsbury vs Telepost fixture run, after two matches last week involving the county town’s two teams.
Without Mark Smith available, Andrew Lewis was drafted in by captain Matt Best to fill the team on board 5. Noted for his impressive drawing capacities, Andrew managed a win last week, one which extended his personal unbeaten league run to 17 matches (with a couple of draws for Shropshire under 140s thrown in, too). However, his creditable run was ended by Telepost’s Quentin Mills on Friday – more on that later, though, as chronology dictates we deal with three other games first.
The first board to finish involved another in-form player, although this time from the other team. Kate Walker had only lost 3 league matches before Friday (two against Shrewsbury players) and she faced one of her few vanquishers again, with Ivor Salter looking to record an overdue win after some misfortune in recent matches. Things got off to a flying start as Ivor won a piece in the opening, then continued to get better as he consolidated patiently, trading off pieces and fending off counter-attacks before slowly turning the screw, finishing off as his Queen and Rook combined to force checkmate and make him the only player to defeat Kate twice so far this season.
Next to finish was the top board encounter between yet another in form player, Daniel Lockett, and the always tricky Peter Crean. As Black in a Scandinavian, Daniel got a slight edge out of the opening, leading to him having a Bishop pair against Peter’s two Knights with Queens off and material level. He opted to trade off the minor pieces, in return winning a Pawn and getting his two Rooks more active than Peter’s; connected on the 7th rank. Although Peter had a passed d-Pawn to provide complications, Daniel’s King was sufficiently well positioned to deal with it, as he swapped off a pair of Rooks and gobbled up Pawns at will, marching his King across to stop the Pawn in its tracks on d7. Trade-offs ensued, out of which Daniel emerged with a King, Rook and three connected Kingside Pawns against Peter’s King and lonely Rook. Daniel converted the ending calmly to double the hosts’ lead, continuing his fine form: scoring 12½ points from his last 16 league matches without losing and registering an 80% score for the B team this season, picking up 5½ points from his last 6 games. Here’s hoping we fend off interest from Real Madrid this summer!
The skipper was the next to finish, facing Vinnie Crean on board two. In a characteristically aggressive game, Matt won back his gambit pawn early on with strong control of the centre and threatening-looking batteries lined up against h7 and f7. As the pressure cranked up, Matt missed a beautiful Knight sacrifice that would have won in style, dismissing it as he couldn’t see beyond a forced draw, missing the crucial dexterous Rook lift that would have forced the issue. However, the chosen continuation proved sufficient, with Vinnie sacrificing the exchange to try and alleviate the pressure – but it proved just a temporary reprieve. In the end, Matt’s Queen broke through on f7, and the win was sealed by giving back the exchange for a mating attack, wrapping up the match.
Onto the aforementioned board 5 game, then, where Andrew got himself into hot water in the opening. A problematic dark-squared hole around his King, with the Bishop he would have wanted there sitting elsewhere, led to difficulty as Quentin took the seemingly defended g6 pawn with his Bishop. However, Andrew couldn’t recapture due to the impending threat of checkmate, and his King was left worryingly exposed. He fought back, however, levelling material and scraping into a seemingly level position. However, the time deficit created by calculating the Bishop move left him short, having to rush and he ended up losing the ending.
The final game to finish saw Norman O’Connor and John Westhead go head-to-head. A blocked-up King’s Indian position saw John castle Queenside, lining up his Rooks against Norman’s King and throwing forward his Kingside Pawns. Norman, however, saw off the attack and seemed to emerge in a level King, Knight and Pawn endgame with a locked Pawn structure and level material. However, again, it was the clock which proved fatal, as Norman didn’t have sufficient time to make the required moves to hold the tricky ending.
Shrewsbury B 3-2 Telepost B
- D. Lockett 1-0 P. Crean
- M. Best 1-0 V. Crean
- N. O’Connor 0-1 J. Westhead
- I. Salter 1-0 K. Walker
- A. Lewis 0-1 Q. Mills