Shrewsbury’s Francis Best wasn’t quite able to inspire his Shropshire & Friends 2 to online Four Nations Chess League championship glory – but did cap an excellent campaign by helping his team gain promotion to the top flight.
Best drew his game against Cameron Davis on board three of the division two final against Stroud Youngies on Tuesday evening – but his teammates, including former Shrewsbury player Steve Rooney and Telepost A captain Matthew Clark, all lost in a 3.5-0.5 defeat.
However, the Shropshire outfit has been promoted to division one for the first time as they finished in the top two of their group during the regular season.
Best himself had a remarkable unbeaten season, finishing on 5/6 in the regular season then gaining a crucial win in the semi final against Hertford’s David Rudd in the semi final and drawing in the final. In total, he won five and drew three of his games.
The seconds even out-performed Shropshire & Friends 1 – the seconds won their group to reach the playoff stage, but the first team finished runners up in Group A behind eventual champions Stroud.
Both sides will line up in division one of the fifth 4NCL online season, which will start in the new year.
4NCL Online was set up at the start of the pandemic to help provide a substitute for over-the-board chess. This time around there were five divisions, although more teams may enter in future with the fresh threat to over-the-board chess posed by Covid-19 and the Omicron variant.
Fellow Shrewsbury player Peter Kitchen has also competed in previous seasons for his 4NCL team Celtic Tigers.