Shrewsbury’s A and C had a sharp contrast in fortunes last night -the A Team sealed a tense victory to maintain their 100% record and move back to the summit of the Shropshire Chess League, while the C Team fell to a heavy defeat against Telford C.
Both Shrewsbury sides were hosting teams who had been playing in the second division last season – Priorslee Lions B having sealed promotion and Telford (or Shifnal and Telford, as they were last season) C slipped down by finishing seventh. The two results, therefore, may appear to have been expected, but the games were far more tense than many may have predicted.
In the A Team’s match, there was a wide array of wild openings. On board five, Michael Reynolds pushed his pawn in reply to Norman O’Connor’s Scandinavian; whilst Matt Best and Marvin Carbin fought out a dynamic Falkbeer on board four and Gary White began with the Bird’s Opening on three against Peter Kitchen. It was, however, board two where the fireworks were most on show with David Everington’s perfectly executed Blackmar Diemar Gambit against Munroe Morrison’s Scandinavian.
First to finish was the bottom board, where Norman fended off a nasty-looking Kingside attack, winning a piece in the process. He then optimised his Queen and Bishop, before breaking through and checkmating Michael. Then, the patient, relentless build up of Kingside pressure from David eventually told some time later when he finally broke through Munroe’s stubborn defence to get the night off to a flyer – 2-0 up and things were looking rosy.
However, a spanner was thrown in the works by the next results. You may have noticed a lack of a description of top board’s opening earlier, due to the fact that the London system isn’t quite so explosive as a Falkbeer or Blackmar Diemar. Indeed, the game played out slowly, Queens coming off and Steve Tarr, as White, gaining a slight space advantage. However, minimal progress was made and a draw was agreed, ensuring that the match could not be lost.
However, Peter’s tough record against Gary continued, as Gary made it 3/3 from their individual head-to-heads. Despite Peter having built up a fearsome attack after Gary neglected to Castle or defend his King with Pawns, or other such dull nonsense, Gary’s superb defence held Peter, who found himself short of time, off and he was able to grab the win to leave the match in the balance.
It meant that board four would decide the match, and it had been a crazy encounter. After Matt went slightly wrong in the opening, Marvin gained time with Matt taking a while to recover the gambit pawn. When he eventually did, however, he managed to gain a slight edge and created a connected passed d-Pawn in a Bishop vs Knight endgame, only to break up the pawns and lose a pawn. Having had a Queenside Pawn majority, it meant that it came down to Marvin’s two Kingside Pawns against Matt’s one, with Matt’s Bishop making it difficult for Marvin to make progress. Whilst possibly theoretically won for Black, Marvin had less than two minutes left on the clock and couldn’t find a way through Matt’s defence, so repeated moves – leading to a draw and scraping the victory for the hosts.
However, it was a less happy tale for the C Team. Heath Pearson, making his league debut on his 13th birthday, took the brave decision to play the King’s Bishop’s gambit. Having got a dynamic, double-edged position, he then made some incorrect moves and lost his Queen for a piece. Although he fought on, it was always a lost cause.
Eric Inglis had also lost earlier, after Tim Skidmore won two Pawns and converted the advantage well in a Rook and Pawn endgame, and so Andrew Lewis’ draw with Roger Brown and a defeat for skipper Ian Davies meant that the match finished with a slightly one-sided scoreline.
Shrewsbury A 3-2 Priorslee Lions B
- F. Best ½-½ S. Tarr
- D. Everington 1-0 M. Morrison
- P. Kitchen 0-1 G. White
- M. Best ½-½ M. Carbin
- N. O’Connor 1-0 M. Reynolds
Shrewsbury C ½-3½ Telford C
- I. Davies 0-1 R. Szwajkun
- A. Lewis ½-½ R. Brown
- E. Inglis 0-1 T. Skidmore
- H. Pearson 0-1 B. Malone