Shrewsbury A produced their finest performance of the season to come from behind and beat Telepost A in the county town derby – leapfrogging their arch-rivals in the table in the process.
Captain Francis Best and Nathanael Paul turned last week’s match around with victories against Phil Zabrocki and Nigel Ferrington on the final two boards to finish after Fred Bench had given the hosts the lead by beating Richard Vernon on bottom board, writes Peter Kitchen.
Ivor Salter had earlier tenaciously saved a losing position against John Bashall on board four to keep Shrewsbury in the hunt.
The result – secured despite the team missing three players and being outgraded on every board – means Shrewsbury are now third in the Shropshire Chess League division one table, just four points off current leaders Maddocks A.
Shrewsbury have also taken three points off Telepost A this season, having drawn the reverse fixture 2.5-2 5 at the Nerdy Cafe before Christmas.
Telepost have arguably been the model club to follow in recent years. Since the Covid lockdowns in particular, they have steadily grown their membership with the promise of competitive chess and attracted a healthy number of juniors – and with a current membership of 44 they can comfortably lay claim to currently being the biggest chess club in Shropshire.
Amid that backdrop, it is little surprise that Shrewsbury A often come into the “El Chessico” derbies as underdogs – and this time was no exception.
The visitors were missing unavailable first choice players Peter Kitchen and Mark Smith, while the in-form Stephen Priestley had to pull out on the day of the match due to work commitments. Vernon replaced him in the line-up, with Salter moving up to board four.
Telepost themselves named a strong side and also made one change, with Bench coming in on bottom board to replace the absent David Hodge. Consequently, Telepost outrated Shrewsbury on every board.
It was the hosts who drew first blood through Bench’s triumph with the black pieces over Vernon, but the remainder of the games proved tense and closely fought.
Dan Lockett then drew his game on board three with Telepost captain Matthew Clark. Lockett, playing with the white pieces, was a pawn up but his opponent’s bishop was arguably superior to his knight and Clark had sufficient counterplay, resulting in the spoils being shared.
Salter then kept his side in touch by hanging in for a draw in an inferior position against Bashall. The game finished as a rook versus pawn ending where Salter managed to get his pawn to the seventh rank, and unable to get his king close enough, Bashall would have had to give up his own rook to prevent it from queening.
At this point Telepost still held a 2-1 lead with just the top two boards to go – only for the match to turn in the two endgames that followed.
First, Telepost’s Phil Zabrocki inexplicably exchanged down into a losing king and pawn ending that Shrewsbury captain Francis Best duly converted to victory to tie the scores.
That meant it all came down to board one, where Nathanael Paul was playing the county’s second highest rated player Nigel Ferrington.
Paul had at one point enjoyed a huge time advantage, with one hour remaining to Ferrington’s nine minutes. But by the time the game reached its defining moment, it was Paul playing off 20 seconds and increments while Ferrington had two-and-a-half minutes on his clock.
With a bishop versus a knight and pawns on both sides of the board, Paul pushed on to try and claim victory – and he calmly converted to turn the match on its head and give Shrewsbury a famous triumph.
Matchwinner Paul hailed the triumph as a true team performance.
He said: “This match win was one of the best I’ve ever been involved in. We were outrated on every board yet prevailed.
“I’m so chuffed and super proud of the team, they all played so well.”
Full scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Telepost A 2-3 Shrewsbury A
1. Nigel Ferrington 0-1 Nathanael Paul (w)
2. Phil Zabrocki 0-1 Francis Best (b)
3. Matthew Clark 0.5-0.5 Dan Lockett (w)
4. John Bashall 0.5-0.5 Ivor Salter (b)
5. Fred Bench 1-0 Richard Vernon (w)
Shrewsbury A won’t have to wait long to return to Telepost Social Club – they are away to relegation-threatened Telepost B on March 27.