Peter Kitchen writes…
The top four seeds have been drawn to face each other in round two of Shrewsbury Club Championship.
Defending champion Francis Best will have the white pieces against Dan Lockett, while Mark Smith will face current club over-the-board top board Peter Kitchen.
Three of the quartet won their opening round matches, while Kitchen was held to a comfortable draw by Norman O’Connor.
One of the games has already been played – Stephen Priestley has provisionally gone top of the table after drawing with Ivor Salter.
Games are played online on Lichess with a time control of 45 minutes for all moves, with 15 seconds increment per move. Players also receive a half point bonus for playing their games before the round deadline, which for round two will be March 11.
Details are available on the club championship tab.
Meanwhile, one Shrewsbury player will be in national league action this weekend. Peter Kitchen will travel down to Maidenhead on the outskirts of London to play for Celtic Tigers in Four Nations Chess League division three south, and will also captain the club’s two teams in the division for the weekend.
Shropshire will also have two teams in action in division three central, which will be played in Leamington Spa.
For more details visit www.4ncl.co.uk