Thanks to preceding results, Shrewsbury A were guaranteed of third place in the first division irrespective of their results in the final two fixtures of the season. However, while most eyes in the country set on the Manchester derby on Sky, Jamie Hopkins’ side were busy recording a resounding victory over Telepost B.
Matt Best, standing in on board 5, got things off to a flyer with a swift victory over Shane Sweeney in an entertaining King’s Gambit (which, incidentally was recently ridiculed by some amateur called Nigel Small or something like that. Pah, what does he know?!) after finding a neat mating combination (see diagram [as requested by David!]: White to play and win; there are two different, but equally quick solutions!).
The next game to finish was up a board, where Dan Lockett was facing John Casewell. After Dan managed to fight through to an endgame a pawn up and with a strong Bishop pair, John overlooked a nasty combination which would have led to mate, and resigned.
The match was made mathematically safe when Jamie Hopkins was eventually able to secure a win over Noel Kiffin on top board. Having gone into the rook and pawn ending a pawn up, Jamie’s more passive rooks made the ending a little tricky, as well as a slight miscalculation allowing Noel to Queen when not strictly necessary; but he came out with the win in the end!
The gloss was added to the scoreline when the final two games to finish both went Shrewsbury’s way. Firstly, Francis Best won a hard-fought tactical battle on board two against John Westhead, hoovering up John’s pawns as John desperately tried to defend against the threats of Checkmate and Francis’ pawn on the 7th.
Very shortly after, David Everington won an enthralling battle on board three against Charles Micallef. David was a Queen and Pawn up for a Rook and Knight, but faced a fierce battle to break through Charles’ resilient defending in a tense time struggle. Despite Charles making an illegal move which both players overlooked, David had enough time and composure to find a neat checkmate and seal the whitewash.
However, things didn’t go quite so well for Shrewsbury C in their crucial promotion clash against Oswestry A. Draws for Ian Davies and Eric Inglis weren’t enough to rescue the match as they went down 3-1 to the hosts, which means two things:
- Oswestry A have become the first team in all Shropshire to mathematically secure the title in their division, so well done. And
- The permutations for Shrewsbury C’s promotion chances are incredibly complicated. Here goes!
- If Wellington B beat Shifnal and Telford D 4-0, they will be promoted irrespective of Shrewsbury C and Newport D’s results.
- If Wellington B win but not 4-0 and Shrewsbury C win against Oswestry B, also collecting at least half a game point more than Wellington, then Shrewsbury C will be promoted (i.e. If Wellington win 3-1, Shrewsbury need to win at least 3.5-0.5 to go up.)
- If Wellington draw, a victory by any margin for Shrewsbury will secure promotion. Anything other than a win will not be enough.
- If Wellington lose 2.5-1.5, Shrewsbury need to at least draw. However, a draw would mean that Newport D would be promoted by a 3-1 victory or greater against Telepost D.
- If Wellington lose by a margin greater than 1 point, then a defeat for Shrewsbury whilst accumulating half a game point more than Wellington would ensure they finish above Wellington. However, if Newport D were to win, Shrewsbury would finish below them and therefore miss out on promotion OR, if Shrewsbury lost 3-1 or 3.5-0.5 but still got half a point more than Wellington, Newport would be promoted with a draw.
So basically, Shrewsbury C just need to win first, ask questions later! Although knowing the Wellington score by the time they play their final game will give them half what they need to know.
Shrewsbury A 5-0 Telepost B
- J. Hopkins 1-0 N. Kiffin
- F. Best 1-0 J. Westhead
- D. Everington 1-0 C. Micallef
- D. Lockett 1-0 J. Casewell
- M. Best 1-0 S. Sweeney
Shrewsbury C 1-3 Oswestry A
- A. Lewis 0-1 G. Ives
- I. Davies 0.5-0.5 R. Evans
- E. Inglis 0.5-0.5 A. Peile
- T. Purser 0-1 K. Grice