Shrewsbury A eased to their biggest Shropshire Chess League win of the season to consolidate their position in the top three of the division one table.
The club’s first team defeated struggling Telepost B 4.5-0.5 to put more pressure on the top two Maddocks A and Newport A, writes Peter Kitchen.
It also marked a second successful visit to Abbey Foregate in the past couple of weeks, coming hot on the heels of the dramatic 3-2 win in the big derby against Telepost A last time out.
Shrewsbury are now just a point adrift of second placed Newport with three games to go, although leaders Maddocks have a four-point cushion over Francis Best’s side.
Unusually, the match finished in board order, with the highlights including Nathanael Paul gaining revenge for his loss to Dan Hilditch-Love in the reverse fixture with victory on top board, and Best seeing off a strong kingside attack from Kate Walker before triumphing on board three.
But it was certainly a closer match than the final scoreline suggested.
Shrewsbury made two significant changes for the short journey to Telepost Social Club. Peter Kitchen returned to the side for the first time since the reverse fixture in November for only his second Shropshire Chess League appearance of the season on board two, while Mark Smith was back on board four after missing the previous two matches. Ivor Salter and Richard Vernon made way.
The winless hosts also strengthened their side for the match as they looked to climb off the foot of the table. Rob Nield, Kate Walker and Steve Kempsell all came into the side on boards two to four, while John Westhead dropped down from board two to board five. Shane Greenwood, Paul Billington and captain Steve Wilson all made way.
Despite their lowly position and having just two draws to show for their efforts so far, Telepost B have proved stubborn opposition for division one teams. They held Shrewsbury at the Nerdy Café in November, and also held defending champions Maddocks A to a draw.
And although Shrewsbury outrated their opponents on all five boards, they were wary not to allow a repeat of the scoreline from the reverse fixture.
That reverse fixture had seen the top board clash between Nathanael Paul and Dan Hilditch-Love prove pivotal to the final result, with the Telepost man winning the final game in a blitz finish to snatch a draw for his side.
This time their clash was the first board to finish – and it was sweet revenge for Paul as he triumphed inside 20 moves after Hilditch-Love erred in a lively, open position.
Kitchen’s return ended with a draw with the black pieces against Nield. Playing the black side of a French Rubinstein, Kitchen found himself in a middlegame with a wrecked kingside pawn structure, but with an active dark squared bishop against Nield’s knight and reasonable prospects to push on and try to build an advantage.
But he started to lose his way a little after both sets of rooks came off, and as Kitchen’s king and bishop got in each other’s way a little Nield looked to build up an initiative on the kingside. Kitchen defended accurately however, and a draw was agreed on move 31 with both players unable to make significant progress.
Best found himself under immense pressure on board three after bailing out of an exchange sequence as Walker built up a menacing-looking kingside attack. But after withstanding the onslaught, the tactics worked out in Best’s favour and Walker resigned an exchange and a pawn down.
Smith’s return to the side on board four went smoothly after an ambitious sacrifice on f7 early on by Kempsell in a Giuco Pianissimo backfired. Smith was soon a piece up for a pawn and steadily converted it to victory.
Lockett made it five with a solid win over Westhead on bottom board. Having won a pawn in the middlegame, Lockett was looking good when his opponent made life easier by hanging a piece and resigning shortly afterwards.
Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Telepost B 0.5-4.5 Shrewsbury A
1. Dan Hilditch-Love 0-1 Nathanael Paul (w)
2. Rob Nield 0.5-0.5 Peter Kitchen (b)
3. Kate Walker 0-1 Francis Best (w)
4. Steve Kempsell 0-1 Mark Smith (b)
5. John Westhead 0-1 Dan Lockett (w)
The first team will now turn its attention to rapidplay league nights on Monday (April 3) at Telepost and on April 11 at Newport, before returning to over-the-board league action with a trip to current leaders Maddocks A on April 27.