An agonising defeat for captain Richard Vernon saw Shrewsbury C slip to an unfortunate 2-1 defeat in their Shropshire Online Chess League division two clash with Oswestry C.
Vernon had enjoyed the better of his board three encounter with Al Grocott-James, which was the final game to finish with the match balanced at 1-1, writes Peter Kitchen. But a fatal slip saw Vernon’s defences breached for the only decisive score of the match.
The result leaves the C’s still searching for their first points of the season following an opening day loss to the division’s title favourites Telford A.
Earlier, the top board encounter between Norman O’Connor and Steve Tulett finished as a quick 14-move draw after what appeared to be a generous show of sportsmanship from the Oswestry player.
O’Connor, playing with the black pieces, appeared to blunder his queen instead of exchanging on move 13 due to a mouse slip. But the game was then agreed drawn on the next move.
Board two was a cautionary example of just how tricky king and pawn endgames can be. Tony Purser and his opponent Jonathan Smith both had seven pawns each, with Purser’s queenside majority stopping Smith from making any inroads with his own king.
But it was a very tricky position to handle, and both players made mistakes before the game finished as a draw by repetition on move 46.
On bottom board, Vernon took charge of the position in the early middlegame, and had opportunities to make progress with his knight appearing superior to Grocott-James’s bishop.
Both players made mutual inaccuracies during a complicated middlegame, with Vernon missing the chance to capture a piece for free at one point. But a weak second rank proved Vernon’s undoing, as he slipped into a mate in four that decided the match in Oswestry’s favour.
The C team will next be in action against fallen giants Newport A on November 28 for their final match of 2022.
Full scores:
Shrewsbury C 1-2 Oswestry C (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)
1.Norman O’Connor (b) 0.5-0.5 Stephen Tulett
2.Tony Purser (w) 0.5-0.5 Jonathan Smith
3.Richard Vernon (b) 0-1 Al Grocott-James
Meanwhile, the highly-anticipated online league division one derby between Telepost A and Shrewsbury A – which was due to take place on Tuesday – was postponed at short notice.
Unfortunately, Telepost were unable to raise a team for the agreed date. The match has been rearranged and will now be played this coming Wednesday, November 23, just two days before the A team’s over-the-board Shropshire Chess League division one clash with Telepost B.
The online games will be played on Lichess, and team news will be revealed on the club’s Facebook page before the match starts.