Shrewsbury A have finished in the top three of Shropshire Chess League’s top flight for the first time in 10 years.
The landmark achievement was confirmed thanks to a 2.5-2.5 draw with Newport A. It meant Shrewsbury leapfrogged local rivals Telepost in the final standings, while Newport finished as runners up, writes Peter Kitchen.
It’s a big moment for the club, which for many years was among the challengers for the Shropshire Chess League crown but has fallen on lean times in the past decade.
Shrewsbury last won the division one title in 2011 before finishing third for the next two seasons. They hadn’t finished above fourth since then, and finished bottom of smaller divisions for the past two seasons.
Friday night’s result was achieved despite top board Nathanael Paul being away, playing in the England Open Championships in Kenilworth.
Stephen Priestley gave Shrewsbury the lead, but disappointing losses on the top two boards for Francis Best and Peter Kitchen put the visitors in front.
Mark Smith battled away superbly to hold a tricky position for a fully deserved draw against Ian Jamieson on board three, and Robert Green secured the win to guarantee the top three finish by winning against promising youngster Krishna Thimmegowda on bottom board.
The match took place on the day it was announced that the club’s venue The Nerdy Café would be closing in the near future, and Shrewsbury were determined to go out on a high and maintain their unbeaten home league record in the process.
At the start of play three scenarios were possible – Shrewsbury were fourth in the table, but a win would see them leapfrog Newport A and Telepost A and finish second. A draw would be enough to overtake Telepost and finish third, while defeat by any score would mean a fourth placed finish.
Shrewsbury made just one change from the narrow victory over Maddocks B. With Paul unavailable, Best and Kitchen moved up a board and Smith made a welcome return on board three, having missed the double header against the two Maddocks sides owing to his local theatre commitments.
Newport made three changes from their 4-1 over Maddocks B a month ago – Chris Lewis returned on board two while Chris Poole and Thimmegowda came in. Thalia Holmes, Joe Greenwood and Phil Love dropped out.
The hosts got off to a flier thanks to Priestley’s triumph on board four. He won an exchange early on, and although opponent Poole appeared solid with two bishops aiding his defence, Priestley broke through to win.
Best was always facing a tough assignment with the black pieces against Shropshire’s number two Nick Rutter. He slipped into a difficult middlegame where Rutter’s well placed, centralised pieces put Best’s position under constant pressure until eventually it cracked.
The visitors then took the lead thanks to Lewis’s win over Kitchen on board two. The Shrewsbury player started confidently on the white side of a Caro Kann, but quickly sank into thought as the well-trodden paths of theory were left behind.
An over-optimistic attempt to build up pressure on Lewis’s c6 knight led to the exchanges of all of Kitchen’s active pieces and left him with a weak d4 pawn to nurse for the remainder of the game. Lewis was already slightly better, and patiently built up the pressure until it told – he delivered a pretty checkmate on the edge of the board shortly after move 40.
At this point, things appeared to be slipping away from Shrewsbury – Rob Green had let a pawn advantage slip on bottom board and Smith was under pressure from Ian Jamieson on board three and was behind on the clock.
But Smith defended his rook and knight endgame resourcefully, and found active ways to challenge his opponent.
While this was going on, Green regained his pawn advantage over Thimmegowda and also had a superior bishop versus knight.
Smith and Jamieson agreed their draw on board three and, although Thimmegowda dragged out the inevitable for several moves, Green brought home the full point to secure a third place finish.
Not only was it the club’s best finish for a decade, it also meant Shrewsbury A finished above county town rivals Telepost A for the first time in eight years (which coincidentally was decided back in 2015 by alphabetical order after the two sides finished with identical records).
A fine end to an excellent season!
Final scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Shrewsbury A 2.5-2.5 Newport A
1. Francis Best (b) 0-1 Nick Rutter
2. Peter Kitchen (w) 0-1 Chris Lewis
3. Mark Smith (b) 0.5-0.5 Ian Jamieson
4. Stephen Priestley (w) 1-0 Chris Poole
5. Robert Green (b) 1-0 Krishna Thimmegowda