With the hot weather moving in, the chess scene in Shropshire has quietened down a little, but not completely! Here is a brief round-up of how the summer competitions have treated Shrewsbury Chess Club:
Minor Knockout
After an excellent victory over Priorslee Lions B in the first round, Ian Davies’ C Team found a super-strong Ludlow team one step too far. Despite battling hard against a sizeable grading deficit on each four boards, the second division visitors won 3.5-0.5, with Tony Purser’s draw against Paul Munday on bottom board the only consolation. Ludlow then dispatched of the B Team in the semi-final, with Ivor Salter’s impressive victory over Robert Woodley on board 4 the only score for Shrewsbury B.
Cox Trophy
Shrewsbury A’s bid for silverware was halted at the semi-final stage by the League Champions and, ultimately, Cox Trophy winners Newport A. Jamie Hopkins claimed a creditable draw against Nick Rutter, David Everington beat Tony Holdford and Dan Lockett drew with Chris Lewis on four. However, Francis Best lost to Nathanael Paul on board 2, meaning the score was 2-2 and that, due to the board-count rule, Shrewsbury A were knocked out.
County Individual
A Team skipper Jamie Hopkins completed his superb individual season by winning the county individual tournament. He scored 5.5/7 to secure first place, beating Nick Rutter to first prize by virtue of the tie-break system. The other two participants from Shrewsbury both also fared well – David Everington scored exactly 50%, whilst Dan Lockett recorded a thoroughly creditable 4/7, with an impressive victory over Nathanael Paul amongst the highlights.
Club Championship
That man Jamie again! He claimed outright first place with 4.5/5, with David Everington claiming second place with 4/5 and Francis Best third with 3.5/5. David also, unusually, won the grading prize – a combination of an excellent tournament and a lower grade than would accurately reflect his playing strength led to his grading performance being 20 points above his grade at the start of the tournament. Special mentions also go to Mark Smith (a regular winner of this prize!) with a performance of +14, and Fred Harris who over-performed by 12 points.
