A failure to make their superiority count proved Shrewsbury C’s undoing as they slipped to a 2-1 online league defeat to Oswestry C.
Shrewsbury were well on top in the games on both boards one and two – but both ended as draws. It meant that Richard Vernon’s defeat against Alf Evans on bottom board was a costly one as it was the only decisive game in the match – and one where Vernon had also been on top for spells.
It leaves the C’s marooned in the bottom half of the Shropshire Online Chess League division two table with two wins and four defeats from their six games.
Norman O’Connor quickly took command against Keith Grice on top board with the black pieces in a Queen’s Indian Defence, winning a key pawn on move 16. He maintained that advantage into the ending, but perhaps unsure of his prospects with a knight versus his opponent’s bishop, offered a draw which was gratefully accepted. According to the Lichess engine that evaluates moves played, it was this and O’Connor’s final move when making the draw offer that were his only serious mistakes of the game.
Likewise, Tony Purser built a steady advantage against Stephen Tulett on board two during the middlegame. Despite briefly losing much of that edge, Purser still had a strong initiative going into a queen and rook ending. But short of time, he settled for a draw by repetition.
Vernon misplayed the opening on the black side of an off-beat Alekhine’s Defence on bottom board, but after mutual inaccuracies reached a superior middlegame with an active rook on the seventh rank. He converted this into an endgame a pawn up – but Evans refused to give up and generated counterplay of his own.
Faced with a menacing looking passed c-pawn, Vernon committed further inaccuracies in the endgame. The passed pawn became a queen, and Vernon waved the white flag on move 69.
Shrewsbury’s B and C teams are due to face each other this coming week. Visit www.shrewsburychessclub.org for a confirmed date and preview in the coming days.