Peter Kitchen writes:
A top-of-the-table clash will whet the appetite when Shrewsbury A return to online league action on Tuesday.
The A’s will host league leaders Oswestry A in their first Shropshire Online Chess League match for nearly two months.
Oswestry have since usurped Shrewsbury at the top of the standings thanks to a draw with clubmates Oswestry B and a victory over Telepost A. With each team playing just six matches, this week’s match could have a major bearing on the destination of the league title.
Shrewsbury were well beaten 3.5-0.5 by Oswestry A in the opening round of fixtures, but haven’t lost since.
They make one change, with Mark Smith replacing the unwell Stephen Priestley and Dan Lockett dropping down to bottom board.
Oswestry A, who on gradings alone go into the match as favourites, are unchanged from their win over Telepost.
All matches will be played in Lichess with a time control of 45 minutes for all moves, with a 15 second increment from move 1.
The line-ups are as follows (Shrewsbury player colours in brackets):
Shrewsbury A v Oswestry A
1. Francis Best (b) v Brian Whyte
2. Peter Kitchen (w) v Mehmet Altinsoy
3. Mark Smith (b) v Tim McMahon
4. Dan Lockett (w) v Leon Cox
Follow the matches by searching for the Shrewsbury player’s Lichess handles:
Francis: ephpeebee
Peter: JournoPete83
Mark: marksmith77
Dan: SilurianDan
Meanwhile, one Shrewsbury player represented the club on the national all stage at the weekend.
Peter Kitchen captained Celtic Tigers’ second and third teams in 4NCL division 3 South, which was held at Maidenhead.
He fought hard to earn a draw against higher rated Spaniard Luis Ortiz Sanchez on Saturday. His Celtic Tigers 2 side lost 3 5-2.5 to high-flying Iceni 1, with five of the six matches finishing as draws.
But Sunday was a tough day, as his team lost 6-0 to title chasing Cambridge University 2. Kitchen was on the verge of a draw on board three despite his opponent Chino Atako having a 250-point rating advantage – only to blunder in a queen and bishop ending to miss a checkmate in three after more than four hours play.