Two of the club’s players have reached a four-way playoff to decide the 2022 champion of Shrewsbury – and one of them is already guaranteed a piece of silverware.
Dan Lockett and Stephen Priestley both finished on 4/5 in this summer’s competition and are among four of the 20-strong field to share first place.
Priestley’s performance has already secured him the honour of being named the tournament’s under 1700 champion.
But despite both players exceeding expectations, the pair will be underdogs against strong opposition from Telepost in the playoffs to decide the overall champion.
Both have been drawn with the black pieces – Priestley will face tournament top seed Nigel Ferrington, who is graded about 500 points higher. Lockett will be black against Matthew Clark, who achieved one of the results of the tournament by beating Ferrington in round two.
If two players from the two ties win, a further playoff will be held to determine the sole champion. If the games are drawn, they will be replayed with colours reversed.
Priestley is one of just two players who has so far gone through the tournament unbeaten, including holding Clark to a 20-move draw in the final round with the black pieces.
Lockett lost to clubmate Peter Kitchen in round two, but has won all of his remaining matches to stay in contention for the top prize.
Other players from the club have also performed well during the tournament. Kitchen shared fifth place on 3.5/5, and Ivor Salter came ninth equal on 2.5/5. Richard Vernon shared 12th place with 2/5, while Tony Purser currently lies joint 14th with 1.5 points from four games.
Priestley, Salter and Purser have all been granted permission to play their games online this season due to the ongoing risks associated with Covid-19.
The playoff games are due to be played in the next few weeks. For more details on the tournament, visit www.shropshirechess.org and follow the links for competitions to find Shrewsbury Town Championship.