A solid night’s work saw Shrewsbury A pick up two hard-fought draws and slip to a narrow defeat in the latest round of Shropshire Rapidplay Chess League division one fixtures.
Francis Best’s side held Newport A to an impressive draw in the opening round before being perhaps fortunate to escape with a share of the spoils against Telford A. They then pushed the night’s hosts Telepost A hard before slipping to a 2.5-1.5 defeat, writes Peter Kitchen.
Shrewsbury now lie fourth in the six-team division with eight points from their nine games, and will look to pick up more points when they travel to Newport for the next round of fixtures on Tuesday (April 11).
When Shrewsbury were last in rapidplay league action back in December, they ended the night top of the table. But other teams have since made up their games in hand, and after the latest results a midtable finish is now the most realistic target.
A squad of five made the short trip to Abbey Foregate. Mark Smith was unavailable but Robert Green was drafted in to join regular first teamers Nathanael Paul, Peter Kitchen, Best and Dan Lockett.
Round one: Seduced by the dark side
Shrewsbury went into their match against Newport as the underdogs on paper – but having named their strongest possible side they quickly set about challenging that status.
Remarkably, all of the games were won by the players with the black pieces, with Shrewsbury racing into a 2-0 lead only to be pegged back.
Kitchen has a reputation for being among the last to finish in regular league chess, but it was he who got the board rolling on board two with a fine win over Ian Jamieson. On the black side of a Bird’s Opening, he absorbed a lot of pressure in the centre early on before counter attacking effectively on the queenside. He was able to create a passed a-pawn that cost Jamieson a piece to stop promoting, and resignation soon followed as Kitchen reached a winning ending.
Lockett then doubled the advantage by defeating the experienced Danny Griffiths on bottom board.
But Best was unable to hold a difficult rook ending against Chris Lewis and Paul was defeated by Nick Rutter on top board.
Nevertheless, a draw against strong opposition still represented a very good start to the evening.
Newport A 2-2 Shrewsbury A (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)
1. Nick Rutter 1-0 Nathanael Paul (w)
2. Ian Jamieson 0-1 Peter Kitchen (b)
3. Chris Lewis 1-0 Francis Best (w)
4. Danny Griffiths 0-1 Dan Lockett (b)
Telepost A 3.5-0.5 Telford A (N Ferrington 1-0 T Neal, P Zabrocki 1-0 R Szwajkun, M Clark 0.5-0.5 D Hollands, D Hodge 1-0 S Tennant)
Round two: Lockett and Paul get Shrewsbury out of jail
Shrewsbury went into the second round of matches as favourites against Telford A – but in the end were lucky to escape with a draw.
Best made one change to the line-up, resting himself and bringing in Green on board four, with Lockett moving up to board three.
If finishing first in the opening match had been a surprised, Kitchen went one further by being the first to finish for the second match in a row. However, this time it was a very quick draw with the white pieces against Richard Szwajkun. The Telford player correctly exchanged his light squared bishop for one of Kitchen’s knights early on in a Slav Defence and secured a very solid position that Kitchen couldn’t break down.
Telford then took the lead as Green was defeated by Stefan Tennant on bottom board, and the outlook wasn’t looking great as Lockett found himself facing a fearsome-looking queenside attack against David Hollands on board three.
But Hollands surprisingly offered a draw that was quickly accepted, and Paul ground out a win against Toby Neal on top board.
Shrewsbury A 2-2 Telford A
1. Nathanael Paul (b) 1-0 Toby Neal
2. Peter Kitchen (w) 0.5-0.5 Richard Szwajkun
3. Dan Lockett (b) 0.5-0.5 David Hollands
4. Robert Green (w) 0-1 Stefan Tennant
Newport A 1.5-2.5 Telepost A (N Rutter 0-1 N Ferrington, I Jamieson 0-1 P Zabrocki, C Lewis 1-0 M Clark, D Griffiths 0.5-0.5 D Hodge)
Round three: Edged out by title-chasing Telepost
Best returned to the side for the final round, which featured two derby matches. He replaced Lockett on board three to face his opposite number, Telepost captain Matthew Clark.
As has been a familiar theme in all formats this season (and in recent years), the match with Telepost was a closely fought affair.
Paul agreed a draw with Nigel Ferrington on top board, but then Shrewsbury fell behind. Kitchen had given Zabrocki plenty to think about on the black side of a French Advance, but missed a powerful exchange sacrifice from the Telepost man that saw him infiltrate and secure victory.
Best then dragged Shrewsbury level with a fine win over Clark, but Green sadly couldn’t hold a difficult position against the experienced David Hodge on top board.
The result saw Telepost finish the night with three wins from three matches and outs them six points clear at the top of the table – although both Maddocks A and Newport A will look to claw that back at this week’s matches.
Telepost A 2.5-1.5 Shrewsbury A
1. Nigel Ferrington 0.5-0.5 Nathanael Paul (w)
2. Phil Zabrocki 1-0 Peter Kitchen (b)
3. Matthew Clark 0-1 Francis Best (w)
4. David Hodge 1-0 Robert Green (b)
Telford A 1-3 Newport A (T Neal 0-1 N Rutter, R Szwajkun 0-1 I Jamieson, D Hollands 0-1 C Lewis, S Tennant 1-0 D Griffiths)
Paul and Kitchen both joint top scored with 1.5/3 on the night, while Best and Lockett both scored 1/2 and Green, despite ending the night empty handed, picked up some more useful experience against tricky, experienced opponents that will serve him well during what is his first season of competitive chess.
Shrewsbury will face Newport A, Maddocks B and Maddocks A in this week’s round of fixtures at Newport’s Royal British Legion. We hope to provide updates via our Facebook page during the night.