Shrewsbury’s two top flight online teams are on course to achieve notable landmarks as the local league season draws towards its conclusion.
Shrewsbury A have a chance to match last season’s runners up finish in Shropshire Online Chess League division one, thanks largely to a surprise 3.5-0.5 win over deposed champions Oswestry A.
Meanwhile, the club’s B team look set to avoid the wooden spoon, despite an under-strength squad suffering a 4-0 defeat to newly-crowned title winners Oswestry B, writes Peter Kitchen.
The A’s have one match left to play against bottom side Telepost A. And although it is hard to judge exactly how the land lies due to errors on the league table on the Shropshire Chess Association website, a win could see Shrewsbury move level on points with Oswestry B, albeit with an inferior points difference.
The win over Oswestry A was secured with the aid of a default win on top board. Despite being online, Oswestry’s Mehmet Altinsoy failed to issue a challenge to Francis Best and Shrewsbury were 1-0 up.
Stephen Priestley secured yet another impressive win on board three, steadily building his advantage in the middlegame with the white pieces against Adrian Bailey before infiltrating on the kingside. One final error from Bailey – who was facing certain material loss – meant that mate was inevitable when he resigned on move 34.
Robert Green rolled out the Budapest Gambit against Jonathan Smith on board four – only to see it declined. Despite Smith staking a claim to territory on the queenside, Green maintained a solid position and then took control in the knight ending that followed, winning two pawns before his opponent resigned on move 43.
Peter Kitchen has endured an inconsistent season in the online league, but secured a creditable draw against the higher rated Brian Whyte on board two.
Whyte has been one of the county’s top players in recent years, but has now moved to Edinburgh and is likely to only feature online for Oswestry.
The pair’s game got off to an unorthodox start in an offbeat variation of the English Opening, with Kitchen wedging a black pawn on d4. But Whyte started to fight for central space of his own, and Kitchen’s risky decision to exchange light squared bishops on the h1-a8 diagonal gave him pawn weaknesses that Whyte looked to exploit.
One brief slip by Kitchen in the rook and knight ending that followed went unpunished, and Whyte then mistakenly exchanged into a rook ending that computer engines suggest was completely drawn.
Whyte continued to probe for almost 30 moves before finally accepting a threefold repetition on move 61 when both sides had a rook and two pawns each.
Meanwhile, Shrewsbury B were without captain Mark Smith for the tough assignment against Oswestry B – and proved no match for their high-flying opponents.
Richard Vernon suffered a dispiriting defeat on bottom board, misplaying a tricky opening against Gary Slegg before falling prey to a Bxf7 tactic, which led to his resignation on move 14.
Priestley lost a wild game with the white pieces against Rudy van Kemenade – despite being a piece up for much of the game, his attempts to untangle his undeveloped kingside only led to a queen ending where he was two pawns down. Priestley still had chances to draw, only to blunder into a tactic that saw him resign before losing his queen.
Ivor Salter defended solidly against Peter Lovatt on board two, and ambitiously turned down a draw offer in a knight ending on move 29. But a blunder on move 35 cost him a key queenside pawn and ultimately saw his position crumble. Lovatt secured victory on move 53.
Tony Purser suffered a painful defeat on board three. After a see-saw battle, a same coloured bishop ending was reached where Peter Fisher’s extra pawn was doubled and of no great consequence.
Purser’s draw offer on move 73 was declined – and he missed a hard-to-spot path to a draw on move 76. After that, Fisher picked up Purser’s a-pawn and transposed into an easily-winning king and pawn endgame that ended with checkmate on move 93.
However, Shrewsbury B have received a walkover victory over Telepost A after the Abbey Foregate side failed to raise a side, meaning the B’s are likely to avoid finishing bottom of the table.
Latest scores (Shrewsbury colours in brackets):
Oswestry A 0.5-3.5 Shrewsbury A
1. Mehmet Altinsoy def-1 Francis Best (w)
2. Brian Whyte 0.5-0.5 Peter Kitchen (b)
3. Adrian Bailey 0-1 Stephen Priestley (w)
4. Jonathan Smith 0-1 Robert Green (b)
Oswestry B 4-0 Shrewsbury B
1. Rudy van Kemenade 1-0 Stephen Priestley (w)
2. Peter Lovatt 1-0 Ivor Salter (b)
3. Peter Fisher 1-0 Tony Purser (w)
4. Gary Slegg 1-0 Richard Vernon (b)
Shrewsbury B 4-0 Telepost A (match defaulted)