Shrewsbury’s A team were at Newport on Monday 3rd March, seeking to break a losing streak and trying to ensure they were clear from the relegation zone of division 1. This was always going to be a tall order, as Newport remain, on paper at least, the strongest side in Shropshire’s league, despite not having always dominated this season.
To add to the challenge, Shrewsbury had to call upon two reserves in the shape of Norman O’Connor and Andrew Lewis. To be fair, recent results from A team reserves have been very creditable and the B and C team players thus called upon have certainly tended to punch above their weight.
Francis Best, on top board against Nick Rutter essayed the sharp Morra Gambit. As an aside, David Everington on board 2, observing the game, quipped, “I thought for a moment that Gordon Bradley was playing on board 1!” Salopian old hands will remember a number of Gordon’s memorable victories with the Morra, as he invariably employed it against the Sicilian and it suited his attacking style perfectly. Alas, Gordon is no longer with us but we felt as though his spirit chuckled along with us. Unfortunately for Shrewsbury, the choice of opening did not yield the right result, putting the home team one ahead.
On the other boards, however, things were looking more promising. Andrew Lewis on board 5 had a piece for two pawns against Chris Lewis, normally enough for a winning advantage. Norman O’Connor, too, had a good position against Simon Maydew and appeared to be in control. Peter Kitchen on board 3, had opened the game flexibly against Nathnael Paul in a Catalan type system and appeared to be doing well. Meanwhile, on board 2, David had come prepared to avoid Gavin Cooper’s 1.Nf3…2.b4 set up by responding 1…c5. The opening transposed into a Queen’s Gambit Tarrasch set up, with Black in position of the isolani, a double-edged feature, which can be a dynamic asset in the position, or a liability, depending on how things develop.
As the match developed, however, things went almost entirely contrary to those early indications. To start with, Chris Lewis started developing serious counterplay on board 5. He managed to push a pawn through to promotion and Andrew resigned shortly afterwards. Board 4 had simplified to a Queen and pawn ending, with lots of pawns on both sides. Norman miscalculated a queen retreat, allowing Simon’s Queen into the position and threats against the King and pawns enabled the latter, too, to push a pawn through to promotion ahead of Norman’s. So by this stage, the match had already gone in favour of the home team and just honour and game points were at stake (not that these are unimportant!)
Peter, in his habitual time trouble, was trying to press against Nathanael but struggling to achieve a breakthrough. Meanwhile, on board 2, David had ditched his isolated d-pawn for the sake of dynamic piece play, leading to an interesting battle. Gavin, snatched another pawn, perhaps unwisely, allowing David to build up dangerous back rank and light-square threats. Over the next few moves, it was apparent that White’s position was precarious and Gavin was forced to concede material to stave off the mating threats. As they entered an ending with a dynamic imbalance of Rook, Knight and two Pawns versus Queen and Bishop, Gavin’s flag fell. The game is well worth playing through and is a good example of the battle between the forces trying to demonstrate the benefit or drawback of the isolated central pawn. David has annotated the game here and it appears on our Interesting Games page.
On board 3, with both flags about to fall, Nathanael offered a draw, which, with the result not in doubt, Peter accepted.
Newport A 3½-1½ Shrewsbury A
- F. Best 0-1 N. Rutter
- D. Everington 1-0 G. Cooper
- P. Kitchen ½-½ N. Paul
- N. O’Connor 0-1 S. Maydew
- A. Lewis 0-1 C. Lewis