The chess equivalent of T20 cricket will come to town when Shrewsbury Chess Club hosts the first round of this season’s Shropshire Rapidplay League tonight (Friday).
Shrewsbury will play two Maddocks teams and one Telepost team at Nerdy Café – with all of the four-board matches being played under much quicker time controls than standard league chess.
Players will either have a straight 20 minutes to play all of their moves, or if captains agree 10 minutes thinking time with 10 seconds increment per move.
While this is slow compared to some online time controls, it is much quicker than the standard league format – all moves in one hour 25 minutes with 10 seconds increment per move – or the online league, where players have 45 minutes thinking time with 15 seconds increment per move.
Shrewsbury will start off as the “away” team against town rivals Telepost, although there is some uncertainty over this, as it appears Telepost may struggle to raise a team this evening. The line-up would have been a potential warm-up for Monday night’s over-the-board derby at Abbey Foregate.
They will then face Maddocks A before ending the night against Maddocks B, and Shrewsbury will be the nominal “home” team in both.
It is not yet known what kind of squad Shrewsbury will field, but it is hoped the night can be used as an opportunity to give some people valuable over-the-board experience or give some established club players the chance to blow away some of the cobwebs brought on by chess being predominantly online during the pandemic.
This season’s rapidplay league will be played as just one six-team division, with Newport and Telford also entering teams. Seven nights with three rounds per evening will be held at different venues around the county, with Shrewsbury due to host the final rounds on July 1.
Usually the rapidplay league is played in tandem with the league season, but its start was delayed due to the impact of Covid-19 on over-the-board chess either side of Christmas.
The opening night will be quite a spectacle with at least eight boards active at a time, and people wishing to visit and see what it is all about are welcome.
The first round of matches is expected to start at about 7.30pm.