Shropshire’s online chess league – which helped several Shrewsbury Chess Club members continue to play competitively during the Covid-19 pandemic – has been saved.
Five Shrewsbury club members successfully argued for the online league to be retained for at least another season after a proposal to axe it was raised at the recent Shropshire Chess Association annual general meeting, writes Peter Kitchen.
A number of the club’s members have been reluctant to resume over-the-board chess over the past 12 months as they are either shielding or classed as vulnerable to Covid. While Shrewsbury was only able to field one over-the-board team during the 2021/22 campaign, three teams competed online and the B team won the online division two title.
The delegation of club members argued that it was important to offer players an opportunity to play chess competitively at a local level if they were unable to play over the board – and that players should still have the choice whether to play online and/or over the board.
Supporters of the plan to axe the online league had claimed it was a victim of its own success and was not encouraging people to come back to over-the-board chess or attend club nights.
The discussion generated heated debate at the AGM, during which it emerged some teams could drop out of Shropshire’s online league in favour of competing in the 4NCL Online competition. The motion to axe the online league was convincingly rejected by three votes to 10.
Meanwhile, clubs will also have the option to take a winter break from over-the-board league fixtures during the 2022/23 season.
The idea was put forward by Oswestry’s Charles Higgie, whose proposal stated that OTB league fixtures could be played through the autumn, then the online league could run during the winter months, and league chess resume in early spring.
It was suggested to help avoid weather-related postponements of matches during the winter months in the event of flooding or heavy snow, which have become more regular occurrences in recent years.
Members of clubs not keen on competing in Shropshire’s online league were reluctant to take a winter break, so a compromise was reached whereby teams wanting w inter break must inform league controller Adrian Zdanowski before the new campaign.