Lightning struck twice as a Shrewsbury side suffered a second 3-1 online defat to Oswestry B in the space of a week.
This time it was Shrewsbury A who were no match for their opposition from up the A5, just eight days after Shrewsbury B suffered an identical fate in a Shropshire Online Chess League division one match, writes Peter Kitchen.
Only a fine piece of endgame play from Francis Best to turn around an inferior rook ending against Rudy van Kemenade spared the A’s the embarrassment of a whitewash as their conquerors swept to the top of the table at Christmas.
It was the A team’s first online league defeat of the season, and followed hot on the heels of the A’s losing their unbeaten record in the over-the-board league last week.
The match was played over two days after Oswestry requested to play board three 24 hours after the other three boards due to availability issues.
Oswestry grabbed a firm hold of the match from an early stage. Nathanael Paul suffered a night to forget on top board, making an error out of the opening that cost him an exchange. Phil Beckett was in no mood to let him off the hook, and a flashy move putting his queen en prise with mate threatened was enough to convince Paul to throw in the towel on move 19.
Captain Best was also looking in trouble against van Kemenade, and he entered a rook and pawn ending a solid pawn down. But van Kemenade continued to play quickly, and Best was able to drum up significant counterplay, gobbling up pawns while van Kemenade tried to push a passed c-pawn up the board.
Best was able to block the c-pawn and push his own pawn to a7 – and with his position tied up and facing a pawn majority ready to roll on the kingside, van Kemenade conceded defeat on move 47.
But Oswestry made sure they would take a lead into the following day when Peter Fisher defeated Dan Lockett on board four. Lockett fell into an ending two pawns down but fought valiantly in an attempt to stave off defeat, only for Fisher to eventually promote a pawn and claim victory.
Peter Kitchen went into his game the following night knowing only a win with the black pieces against Peter Lovatt would be enough to save the match.
He started brightly enough, and was asking most of the questions in a complex middlegame where both players were using up a lot of time.
But with both players down to their last couple of minutes by move 24, mistakes started to creep into Kitchen’s game. He lost one pawn, then after some solid defence by Lovatt he found himself in a lost same-coloured bishop ending two pawns down that couldn’t be saved.
Full scores:
Shrewsbury A 1-3 Oswestry B (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)
1.Nathanael Paul (b) 0-1 Phil Beckett
2.Francis Best (w) 1-0 Rudy van Kemenade
3.Peter Kitchen (b) 0-1 Peter Lovatt
4.Dan Lockett (w) 0-1 Peter Fisher