Shropshire's star comes home - 03/01/2012
He's back! Chess ace John Cox is making a return to his "home" congress at the weekend for the first time in years as Shropshire stages its big annual chess competition.
Shropshire Chess Congress is at the Wrekin Housing Trust premises in Telford centre on January 7 and 8 and has over 85 entries so far, which is an impressive figure considering that only three weeks ago the tournament looked to have been scrapped due to trouble organising a venue. However, thanks to Steve Rooney who stepped in at the last minute and in effect organised a totally new event in only a few days, the congress has been salvaged. It is being called Shropshire Chess Congress, whereas the previous event - held at Madeley Court Centre, which closed forever in December - was called the Wrekin Chess Congress. The changes go further than the name, venue, and organising team.
While the Wrekin had a grading cap to make it a "stars barred" competition, the Shropshire has no such cap and is open to the strongest players. And this means that super-strong John Cox, who hails from Shropshire but moved to London, is able to play once more. International Master Cox was a regular at the Shropshire congress before the grading cap was introduced when the old Shropshire folded and was superseded by the Wrekin. Understandably he was not very happy, as it meant he was barred from what he considers his home tournament.
Cox is the highest graded entrant at the time of writing. His grade of 228 is considerably higher than the next strongest player, Antony Hynes, graded 194. Then come Nigel Ferrington, of the Shrewsbury-based Telepost club, and Simon Fowler, who used to play for Coddon in the league before university studies removed him from the Shropshire scene. Both are graded 190. They are all in the strongest section, The Open. In The Major, for players graded 160 and under, hopes of a "home win" will rest with the likes of Ieuan Fenton and Glyn Pugh, both graded 159. In the Minor, for players graded 125 and under, George Viszokai is the strongest Shropshire entrant, but as always the competition will be tough.
The congress comprises five rounds, played on Saturday and Sunday. All players play all five games (unless they have a bye). Details from Steve Rooney on 07530 649195 or the Shropshire chess website, www.shropshirechess.org
In the latest county match, Shropshire's under-140 team were overpowered by Leicestershire, losing 10-6 in an encounter played at a neutral venue, Wall village hall in Staffordshire. Shropshire winners were Windsor Peck, Stefan Tennant, Stuart Ross, and Vincent Crean, with draws from Graham Shepherd, Steve Tarr, George Viszokai, and John Westhead.

Shropshire Chess Congress takes shape - 13/12/2011
Details have been announced for next month's Shropshire Chess Congress following its miraculous rescue led by Steve Rooney and Francis Best. And any thoughts that having to organise in days an event which usually takes months to bring together would result in some sort of makeshift, second-class congress, have been banished, as all the usual features are there, including attractive cash prizes for the winners in each section - £200 for first, £100 for second, and £50 for third.
The big question now is: will chess players turn out in numbers to support it?
A feature of the Wrekin Chess Congress, which "the Shropshire" now supersedes, was the large proportion of players from "away" it attracted. With organisation of the event unavoidably being very late, following the announcement only a fortnight ago that The Wrekin had gone belly up due to venue problems, will the players from away even realise that the tournament is still on? It is at The Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford on the weekend of January 7 and 8, the same venue which was used so successfully for Grandmaster Nigel Short's recent simultaneous display. There are three sections - the Open (for strongest players), the Major (for players graded 160 and below), and the Minor (125 and below).
The revival of an Open section potentially paves the way for Britain's top players to compete, although when there was an Open section in the past they never came in significant numbers. Another of Rooney's innovations is to set up the option of paying the entry fee online - details are on the Shropshire chess website, www.shropshirechess.org

In the league, the Shrewsbury derby match between last season's league champions Shrewsbury A and county town rivals Telepost A saw the Shrewsbury juggernaut derailed. Shrewsbury's David Everington reports: "After some early season luck, Shrewsbury finally got their come-uppance in this tense fixture. The home side was optimistic with the return of Philip Makepeace, but Nigel Ferrington took the full point in a complicated game. Francis Best dropped a piece against Philip Zabrocki but emerged with a bishop against two bishops, but with four extra pawns. They were not enough to win, so the point was shared. "The Bates-Everington game showed that the Exchange Variation of the French need not be at all drawish. Both sides missed winning chances before Bates clinched things in the ending."
In the dog-eat-dog battle Ludlow A gained their first points by defeating Wellington A, who now prop up the Division One table.

Shropshire's chess congress saved - 06/11/2011
Shropshire's chess congress has been salvaged thanks to a dramatic last ditch rescue operation led by Steve Rooney and Francis Best.
News last week that January's Wrekin Chess Congress had been cancelled due to venue problems sent shockwaves through the county chess community, as the weekend tournament is the biggest event in Shropshire's chess calendar, attracting around 100 players from far and wide, and is a much looked forward to curtainraiser to the new year. Thanks to intensive efforts by Rooney and Best, organising things in only days, it has now been reinstated, at a new venue - the Wrekin Housing Trust's training centre in Telford town centre - and renamed the Shropshire Chess Congress. The date is the same though, on the weekend of January 7 and 8.
Proceeds will go to Shropshire Chess Association, meaning the event has turned full circle. Years ago Shropshire Chess Congress was organised by the association, but then folded, only to be successfully revived by Graham Shepherd of Church Stretton chess club, rebranded as Wrekin Chess Congress. Later Shifnal & Telford chess club took over the reins of organisation. The latest developments mean it has moved from being a club-organised event, back to being wholly in the county chess association fold, and the "stars barred" element of the Wrekin Chess Congress has also been dropped, potentially opening the way for Grandmasters to play in the tournament.
Hero of the hour Rooney said: “We were all very disappointed to hear of the cancellation of the Wrekin event, but we were sure that there was a lot of interest among the county's players with many people already setting aside the regular January weekend in anticipation. "Within 48 hours we had a venue organised - thanks to the generosity of the Wrekin Housing Trust - and we contacted all the local clubs. The response from players in the county and elsewhere has been very enthusiastic with lots of offers of help, and despite the tight timescale, we believe that we can run a successful event.”
The congress will have three sections: an Open  for allcomers; and sections for players graded 160 and below, and 120 and below. Entry forms will be circulated this week and available online at www.shropshirechess.org. More information is available from Steve Rooney on 01694 723724 or steve.rooney@busandcoach.com on email.

Making his first appearance for 25 years in league chess, Keith Fradgley rescued a point for still unbeaten Newport B, after his side had trailed 2-0 in their Division Three encounter with Church Stretton B. Chris Paul was beaten fairly early on by J. Carless, and Newport went 2-0 down after Steve Cooper declined an unsound rook sacrifice and lost. Danny Griffiths won in the endgame against young Francis Rooney, before Tom Williamson's flag fell to give Fradgley the win in a tight game.

Wrekin Congress cancelled - 29/11/2011
No chess congress in January - that's the grim news for Shropshire players who were looking forward to the biggest event in the county chess calendar which typically attracts around 100 contenders from far and wide.The event, with a prize fund of £1,000, has bitten the dust due to problems finding a venue.
"Yes, it's true," said organiser Richard Thompson. "I couldn't be sure that we could be able to play at Madeley Court, and the only other reasonable venue I could find couldn't manage the weekend I wanted. Also, the equipment suppliers pulled out."
January's event would have been the 12th Wrekin Chess Congress. But there has been a question mark throughout the year because the venue which has served so well, Madeley Court Centre, has been due to close with the advent of the new Abraham Darby Sports and Leisure Centre being built about a mile away. It was not until last week that things became clear, when it was announced that the Court Centre will close on December 18 and the new venue will become available on January 9.

One of the most depressing things for players is to play over their wins or defeats on a computer when they get home, with the computer cruelly pointing out all the good moves they missed. But when Munroe Morrison of Priorslee Lions B analysed his win against Shrewsbury B's Mark Smith, it actually thought he had played well. Here's the game: 1 e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 g3 g6 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nge2 Nc6 6 d3 d6 7 h3 0–0 8 0–0 Be6 9 f4 Qc8 10 g4 exf4 11 Bxf4 h6 12 Qd2 Kh7 13 Rf2 Ne7 14 Ng3 Neg8 15 Raf1 Qd7 16 e5 dxe5 17 Bxe5 Nd5 18 Bxg7 check Kxg7 19 Nce4 Qe7 20 c4 Nb4 21 g5 hxg5 22 Nxg5 Nc6 23 Qc3 chk Kh6 24 Qh8 chk Kxg5 25 Ne4 checkmate.
Division One leaders Shrewsbury A's winning run came close to being halted by Priorslee Lions A when Glyn Pugh held Jamie Hopkins to a draw on top board, and Jim O'Neil demolished David Everington's French Defence on board two.
Matthew Best then made his first score for Shrewsbury A on bottom board with a creditable draw. The match was decided right at the end of the playing session when Francis Best was gifted a piece in a technically tricky ending of rook, bishop and two pawns versus bishop, knight and two pawns.
"Peter Kitchen and John Tunks were both running out of time in what came down to a probably drawn rook and pawn ending, but John's flag fell first. Shrewsbury went home feeling very lucky indeed," reports Everington.
In the Oswestry B v Newport B tussle in Division Three Steve Cooper's old enemy - the clock - reared its ugly head again, when he lost on time despite being a rook and two pawns up, but fortunately his teammates' performances took Newport B to victory.

Fine individual results for Holdford and Viszokai - 22/11/2011
Shropshire's individual championship has got under way with Tony Holdford already scoring a notable result by drawing against his Newport clubmate Nick Rutter, the strongest player in the competition and consequently the favourite to win. Just over 20 players are taking part in the seven-round tournament, which is down on previous years. Other first round results in so far are a win by a former champion, Jamie Hopkins, over Graham Shepherd, and a draw by George Viszokai against Colin Roberts, which will go down as a moral victory for Viszokai who is rated almost 50 grading points lower than his Wellington opponent.
Battle lines are being drawn in league action and it is already clear that there is a gulf in standard in Division One between the upper and lower halves of the table which has not been present in recent seasons, in which things have tended to be tight. League leaders Shrewsbury A beat Church Stretton A comfortably and remain the only side to retain their 100 per cent record.
Telepost B and Shifnal & Telford B are joint leaders in Division Two, with the latter side benefiting from the winning debut of newcomer Nazif Nazif who was immediately fielded on top board and claimed the scalp of the tricky Derrick Powell. To rub salt in the wound it emerged that Nazif had previously been along to the Wellington club with the intention of joining up there but, finding nobody around, joined Shifnal & Telford instead.
The strength in depth at the Shifnal & Telford club is underlined by the fact that their C team heads Division Three with Newport B, who have a game in hand, the only close challenger as yet.

County captain leads team to victory - 15/11/2011
Shropshire chalked up a 10-6 victory against a Leicestershire team headed by one of Britain's top grandmasters in the Salopians' latest encounter in the Midland Counties Chess Union championship.
Captain Glyn Pugh was pleased on two counts - the county side won, and also he scored his first personal win as county captain. "Nick Rutter was unlucky to pick Grandmaster Mark Hebden and was black again, but that was where the bad news ended as, remarkably, there were no losses between board 2 and 14, meaning Shropshire gained a good victory," he said.
Winners were Jamie Hopkins, John Footner, Glyn Pugh, John Bashall, Nathanael Paul, Andy Tunks, and Richard Gillespie, and draws from Nigel Ferrington, Gavyn Cooper, Richard Bryant, Peter Kitchen, Chris Lewis, and John Whittaker.
Newport's junior  Athar Mehmood has gained quite a reputation for getting good results in competitions around the country, and did it again at the 30th Bolton Rapidplay on Sunday, in which he played in the Major section, for players with a grading of 165 or below. "I won the Major section with a score of six out of six, and came back with the top prize of £120. I hope the members of  the Newport Chess Club and Wrekin College will be proud of me. I will donate £20 to charity," he said.
Division Two is looking as if it will be a close battle this year. Oswestry A missed the chance to open a gap at the top when they went down 1-4 at home to Telepost B, who now head the division.
In Division Three, early leaders Shifnal & Telford C and Newport B shared the spoils in their encounter and occupy the top two places.

Ludlow give leaders a fright - 08/11/2011
Shrewsbury A remain early leaders in Division One after yet another close encounter, this time against lowly Ludlow A who are still looking for their first point.
Shrewsbury captain Dave Everington reports: "Our boards 3 and 4 set us on our way but then Matthew Best, standing in for Peter Kitchen, suffered a disaster. With four pawns and a bishop against Paul Munday's single pawn and knight, he blocked off his own last escape square with one of his own pawns to get mated by the knight in a most unusual position. "John Whittaker won a very nice game with a piece sacrifice against John Parrott but Jamie Hopkins rounded off a tense evening with a very accurately played positional win on board one to take the points for Shrewsbury."
In Division Two the Telepost C v Wellington B scrap saw a welcome winning return by Gordon Thomas, who helped the home team secure their first point of the season in the resulting draw. It came on a really busy night for the Shrewsbury-based Telepost club, with the A, B and C teams all playing at home simultaneously making, with their opponents added in, a total of six teams and 30 players in action.
"With some social chess going on as well it had all the atmosphere of a chess congress - great fun," said Keith Tabner of the club. "We just about had enough sets and clocks to cope."

Bryant v Bates spectacular - 01/11/2011
Richard Bryant and William Bates were involved in what is likely to be one of the most extraordinary battles over the board of the season in a game of fireworks and invention during the Telepost A v Priorslee Lions A encounter. In the end, like two exhausted heavyweights spent by a gruelling slugfest, they agreed a draw in a position in which, to the human eye, it looked as if Bates would have to give up a piece to stop one of Bryant's passed pawns.
Yet computer analysis afterwards shows a different story - that Bates could not only stop all Bryant's three passed pawns, but gobble them all up to boot. That would have then left Bates with a knight and bishop with which to checkmate Bryant's lone king. This is a very rare checkmate to execute, and probably the most difficult in the book for a club player - although Nick Rutter managed it a while back.
Bates had signalled his intent of stirring up wild complications as early as move 4 with a very unusual move in the French Defence. And while his position looked to be teetering on the edge of disaster, when analysed by the silicon chip monsters they just keep racking up his advantages until, by move 25, computer analysis astonishingly shows that his position is better by the equivalent of five pawns.
Here is the game, with Bryant playing white: 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 f5 5 Ng3 c5 6 Bb5 check Nc6 7 Bxc6 chk bxc6 8 Qe2 cxd4 9 Bd2 g6 10 Nh3 Bg7 11 O-O Rb8 12 Ng5 e5 13 Bf4 Rb5 14 Rfe1 Ne7 15 c4 dxc3 16 Nh5 gxh5 17 Qxh5 chk Ng6 18. Nxh7 Qd6 19 bxc3 Kf7 20 c4 Kg8 21 Rad1 Nxf4 22 Rxd6 Nxh5 23 cxb5 Kxh7 24 bxc6 e4 25 g4 Nf4 26 gxf5 Bxf5 (The players afterwards gave the following possibility 26... Rg8 27 Kh1 Bxf5 28 Re3 Be5 29 Rd2 Nh3 30 Rg3 Bxg3 31 hxg3) 27 Re3 Rb8 28 Rb3 Rg8 29 Kf1 Bh3 chk 30 Ke1 Be5 31 Rb7 chk Rg7 32 Rd8 Ng2 chk 33 Kd2 Bxh2 34 Rxg7 chk Kxg7 35 Ra8 Bf4 chk 36 Kc2 Bf5 37 Kb3 Be6 chk 38 Kb4 Bd6 chk 39 Kb5 Bg3 40 Rxa7 chk Kf6 41 fxg3 e3 42 Ra4 e2 43 Re4 e1=Q 44 Rxe1 Nxe1 45 a4 and here Bates offered a draw, which was accepted.
Match result was a 3-2 win to Telepost A.
Elsewhere John Parrott's undefeated run of 16 league games has finally come to an end. The Shrewsbury A player had gone a pawn up against Wellington A's Toby Neal, with a second pawn doomed to fall, when Parrott simply left his bishop en pris, a mistake which proved ultimately decisive.
Athar Mehmood's successes at chess competitions around the country continues, with him being joint winner of the under-170 section of the Oxford University Chess Club Rapidplay. The young Newport star won 5 out of 6 games - his single loss was on time - and brought home £100.

Nigel Short 33 Shropshire 1 - 18/10/2011
Jamie Hopkins and Nigel Ferrington were the toast of Shropshire after becoming the only players to score off top grandmaster Nigel Short in a 34-player simultaneous display in Telford. Both drew - everybody else lost. Hopkins also had the bonus of his game being chosen by Short for the best game prize. "I just played it solidly. I didn't let him in," said Hopkins.
Others were left ruing what-might-have-beens. Dave Gostelow reckoned he had a winning game at one stage, before the position went away from him. Graham Ives was defending a rook and pawns endgame before falling foul of a cunning trick.
To nobody's surprise the last game to finish was that involving Nick Rutter, Shropshire's strongest player, who seemed to have been giving chess ace Short quite a lot to think about. In the final moves it boiled down to Short having a king, rook, and bishop, and Rutter having a king, rook, and pawn, and Short magically conjured up an unstoppable checkmate.
The session lasted over five hours, and it was 2 hours 40 minutes before Wellington's Colin Mace became the first faller after 23 moves, although in truth a number of other players were already doggedly playing on in lost positions - and why not, as the chance to play (for a fee) a world championship contender comes once in a blue moon.
Steve Szwajkun, for example, had said goodbye to a knight on move 12, and Alf Evans had lost his queen after a classic knight fork on move 17. Youngest opponent Heath Pearson, aged 11, who goes to Oxon Primary School in Shrewsbury, took Short to 34 moves, sacrificing his queen in an attempt to force a draw but, of course, Short evaded it to score the full point.
Organiser Francis Best said afterwards: "We have all enjoyed a fantastic day."

Meanwhile Shropshire's open team narrowly lost to Worcestershire in a cliffhanger played at Shifnal.
The Salopians were leading in the running score, but defeats in late games brought things to 7-8, with all turning on whether Windsor Peck could win in the last game to finish to salvage a match draw. Unfortunately it was a bishop and pawns ending in which his young opponent needed only the minimum of care to hold the position and, with nothing he could do, Peck agreed a draw. Match result: Shropshire 7.5, Worcestershire 8.5. Shropshire winners were Chris Lewis, Nick Rutter, Nathanael Paul, Stefan Tennant, and Nigel Ferrington, and draws came from Glyn Pugh, John Whittaker, Graham Shepherd, Windsor Peck, and Gavyn Cooper.

Chess giant comes to Telford - 11/10/2011
British chess giant Nigel Short, who once challenged Gary Kasparov for the title of world champion, comes to Shropshire at the weekend to take on over 30 local players in a simultaneous display. Short will be in Telford on Sunday (Oct 16), along with English Chess Federation president and presenter of TV's Eggheads, CJ de Mooi.
Short was going to play 30 opponents at once, but with all places filled the number has been increased to 40. Nine boards are still available for those who want to take a unique opportunity to go head-to-head with one of England's strongest ever players, and perhaps take a win off the grandmaster to break his amazing 100 per cent record from the first leg of his simul tour earlier this year.
The event begins at 2pm with a lecture, "A Week in the Life of a Grandmaster", with a second at 3.15pm - "It's a Funny Old Game." The simultaneous display starts at 4.30pm. Shropshire Chess Association president Francis Best said: "We have a great line-up of Shropshire players to take on Nigel with some of the county's strongest represented, as well as lots of league players, including some juniors.
"There are plenty of spaces available for spectators on the day to help cheer on - silently - Shropshire's finest. "A superb venue is the setting for the event thanks to the generosity of Wrekin Housing Trust who have agreed to the use of their excellent training suite and catering facilities for the day. "Jacob Perry, the resident chef, will be offering a variety of chess-themed dishes to tempt the palate. "As this is one of the factors that has enabled us to keep the prices down, only refreshments purchased at the venue may be consumed on site and we ask all participants to support this policy.
The main event will start at 2pm but, if there is enough interest there will be an opportunity to buy Sunday roast beforehand during which there will be a showing of extracts from Nigel Short's “Greatest Hits” DVDs on the restaurant's plasma screen." Details and booking forms are available through the Shropshire chess website, www.shropshirechess.org

Junior player Athar Mehmood has added to his list of impressive achievements by becoming Staffordshire under-16 champion for the second successive year. Athar, who plays for Newport, took the 2011 title in the Staffordshire Junior Chess Congress and brings home £30 pocket money as a result. He was the 2010 under-16 champion at the same event. Athar, who is 14, attends Wrekin College.

Just a few seconds prove crucial - 04/10/2011
Shrewsbury A have set out on the path to retaining their league championship title with a dramatic win against a formidable Newport A side in their opening match of the season. Although Newport A were without Nick Rutter, they were able to field two of their big stars - Tom Pym and Gavyn Cooper - who are normally unavailable through university studies.Also in Newport's team this season is Nathanael Paul, a new recruit from the ranks of Priorslee Lions. Everything turned on the last match to finish, that of Shrewsbury's Francis Best against Chris Lewis.
Shrewsbury captain David Everington reports: "After much complication, Best won a piece for a couple of pawns but looked like losing on time. However, he kept pushing on and finally achieved mate with just six seconds left on his clock. "Had his flag fallen, the match would have been drawn as Lewis no longer had enough material to mate. As it was, the home side managed a victory that had looked most unlikely earlier on."
Another encounter to be decided by the last game to finish was the season opener between Priorslee Lions A and Wellington A. Glyn Pugh and Colin Roberts had been in a mighty tussle on top board and Roberts found himself in the position of having to win to salvage the match for Wellington, who were a full point down in the running score. Things were not looking good when Pugh landed what seemed to be the decisive blow in a complicated position in which both sides had threats. Roberts responded by cranking up the complications, which proved to be the right strategy as Pugh was critically short of time in which to work it all out, went wrong, and lost his queen. Roberts' victory tied the match score at 2.5-2.5.To rub salt in Pugh's wounds, when he later ran the game through his Fritz chess computer programme, it found various wins that he had missed.
In Division Three, Kate Walker made a sparkling start to the new season in the encounter between Telepost D and Oswestry B, and got her personal chess campaign off to a flyer with an impressive win in only her second competitive game, having joined Telepost late last season.

Nigel Short to take on more - 27/09/2011
Chess ace Nigel Short has thrown down the gauntlet to Shropshire's chess talent by saying "bring them on" - and offering to do battle with an extra 10 challengers. Former world title contender Short was already geared up to take on 30 players in a simultaneous display in Telford next month. But now the number of available spaces has been expanded to 40.
Francis Best, Shropshire Chess Association president, has been in contact with CJ de Mooi from Short's team, who suggested expanding the numbers. "This is on the basis that we are having to turn people down now for the simul and, as it's the first event in the tour, CJ thinks Nigel won't be too tired to tackle the extra number," said Best.
"This means that we now have up to another 10 places available. I will contact those on my reserves list but there are probably still a few available beyond this. There is a special prize available for the first person to beat Nigel Short and CJ says he would very much like this to be at our event. "Any extra fees earned will be split 50-50, so there is no financial risk to the association.
"Our event has already been well supported and CJ and Nigel Short don't want to disappoint people keen to take on the Grandmaster. "One of the later events in the tour has not been as successfully supported as ours and CJ has asked whether we would want to extend ours in some way. "This may or may not happen but I am thinking in terms of involvement with schools at the moment, maybe coupled with local radio and a smaller event at one club in the evening. If anyone would like to be involved in this extra event, then please drop me an email or call me."
The simultaneous display is at the Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford on October 16. Anyone wanting to play can contact Best on 01743 821220 or at francis@bestfamily.plus.com on email.
Meanwhile it's play action time in Shropshire Chess League with matches getting under way this week in divisions one and three, with those in the second flight having to twiddle their thumbs for another week.

Big boost for Church Stretton as new season gets underway - 20/09/2011
Promoted Church Stretton A will get a big boost in the coming season with the return of Trevor Brotherton to take the board one slot as they embark on their Division One campaign. Brotherton has been a bit of a nomad, and has played for Stretton before. He was part of the 2007-08 side which ran Telepost right down to the wire for the league championship, just missing a title victory on points difference. He has decided to return to Church Stretton following three years with Shifnal & Telford, last season as A team captain.
"We are delighted that Trevor is returning to Church Stretton for the coming season," says A team captain Steve Rooney. "Having won the division two title last year and with it promotion to Shropshire's top division, it will be a big boost to have one of the county's biggest hitters on board one for us." Church Stretton is planning to run two teams for the coming season with Tom Williamson running the B team in division three.
Latest grading lists show that Brotherton remains one of Shropshire's top 10 players. Unsurprisingly, the list is headed by Newport's Nick Rutter, with a grading of 205 - gradings are an assessment of players' strength based on their results. Next strongest is Tom Pym on 199, who has been largely absent from the local chess scene because of university studies, while Shrewsbury's John Parrott climbs into third place (191) after an astonishing season in which he won all his games. Among those showing major improvements are Shrewsbury's Angelica Dean, whose grading of 125 is a massive leap of 50 grading points. Francis Rooney is up 19 to 113, Richard Szwajkun is up 19 to 116, and Matthew Best is up 18 to 117. Derrick Powell improves by 14 points to 119, and Eugene Raby is up 13 to 139.
League chess action resumes next week (week beginning Sept 26) and champions Shrewsbury A will be pitched against Newport A in their first match, being played at Shrewsbury on September 30. Assuming both are available to play, it will involve a mouthwatering board one clash between all-conquering Parrott, and county chess king Nick Rutter. Other highlights of the first fixtures are a local derby between Church Stretton A and Ludlow A.

Minor knockout decided on tiebreak - 26/07/2011
Shifnal & Telford B are the 2011 winners of the Minor Knockout after beating Priorslee Lions B on a tiebreak in the final.
The match result was actually a 2-2 draw, which meant the tiebreak system came into play, in which the result of the bottom board was discounted. The upshot was that Eugene Raby's victory over Windsor Peck on bottom board was disregarded, leaving a 2-1 score in favour of Shifnal & Telford from the other three results.
Full result across all four boards was: M Carbin 0, S Tarr 1; J Tunks 1, R Thompson 0; G White 0, I Wilson 1; E Raby 1, W Peck 0.
Marvin Carbin missed a potential win against Steve Tarr before losing, while Gary White lost a rook for nothing against Iain Wilson. John Tunks, who was the star of the competition, beat Richard Thompson well, and Raby had a good win against Peck.
Competition organiser Jon Smith said: "I had mentioned to a few people about having a player of the tournament award, and to that end I had a small trophy made and engraved with the name of John Tunks.b "Although on the losing side in the final he was the only player to win four out of four games, and three of them against higher rated opponents."

Major changes proposed for AGM - 05/07/2011
Moves which could shrink the size of teams in all three divisions in the Shropshire Chess League are going before next week's annual meeting of Shropshire Chess Association. The proposal is that teams throughout the league should comprise just four players. Last season, as a trial, the size of teams in Division Three was reduced from five to four, in a bid to make it easier for clubs to field full teams and, consequently, reduce the number of defaults. Divisions One and Two continued with five-player teams.
Among other measures on the agenda are further ideas aimed at reducing the number of defaulted matches. Last season there were three defaulted matches in Division Two - but two of those ultimately decided the promotion battle. The unplayed matches have been blamed on reluctance to travel long distances, together with end-of-season weariness and lack of flexibility.
Two suggestions are being put forward. One is that in fixtures that require a lot of travelling, such as Oswestry v Ludlow, teams would be allowed, as a last resort, to play at a "compromise venue". For Oswestry v Ludlow, Shrewsbury would be a likely choice. The other suggestion is that teams that default without offering alternative dates or venues should be docked two points.
The AGM is at Telepost chess club, Shrewsbury, on July 13 at 7.30pm.
Meanwhile the last outstanding league issue has been settled - that of the Division Three championship. Coddon C and Wellington B finished on equal points and could not be separated by normal methods, so a play-off was arranged. Coddon C won 3-1 and are now crowned champions. Details were: J Tunks 1, N Sampson 0; A Pickles 0, D Ogundipe 1; C Paul 1, D Powell 0; G Viszokai 1, D Wright 0.
The Minor knockout final between Priorslee Lions B and Shifnal & Telford B has been arranged for next Monday (July 11). Competition organiser Jon Smith said: "I have been hoping to present a Player of the Tournament award and as the best two teams have reached the final it is fair to say that most of the candidates for the award will be playing in the final. But one name on my shortlist won't be in the final and he is Alan Pickles of Priorslee C, with three wins out of three and all against good players. Well played Mr Pickles."

Tiebreak decides Minor KO semi-final - 28/06/2011
Priorslee Lions B will face Shifnal & Telford B in the climax of the summer minor knockout competition after going through to the final by the narrowest possible margin. The board count tiebreak system had to be used to separate Priorslee Lions and Telepost B after they drew their crunch semi-final 2-2. Under this system, the result on the bottom board is disregarded, repeatedly if necessary, to arrive at a decisive match result. And so it was that the lopping off of John Westhead's bottom board "win" - ironically, it was a win by default as Priorslee Lions could not field an opponent to face him - that created a 2-1 match victory for Priorslee Lions.
Competition organiser Jon Smith says, to avoid delaying the competition, Priorslee Lions had agreed to the match date, even though they knew they would be a player short, and he is thanking them for "getting on with it."
Incidentally, Priorslee Lions is the new name for the Coddon chess club. With the closure of the Coddon Sports and Social Club in April, the chess club had to find a new venue, and its new home is the Lion Inn at Priorslee. To mark the new chapter in the club's existence, it has adopted a new name, inspired by its new venue - which as it happens is also going to be the venue of the final of the competition. Full match result was: S Kempsell 1, M Carbin 0; K Tabner 0, G White 1; P Crean 0, J Tunks 1; J Westhead 1, default 0.
The Shifnal & Telford B v Priorslee Lions C semi final resulted in a clear-cut 2.5-1.5 victory for Shifnal & Telford.Details were: S Tarr 1, G Viszokai 0; W Peck 0, A Pickles 1; I Wilson 1, C Paul 0; S Tennant 0.5, P Mellor 0.5.
Coddon's Chris Paul said: "It was a great game.  It was a great experience for us to play in this tournament."
Meanwhile the annual meeting of Shropshire Chess Association has been fixed for July 13 at Telepost Chess Club at 7.30pm.Players with any proposals to be put on the agenda should contact Glyn Pugh by June 30. Already on the agenda are a review of the Cox Trophy - which was played as a experiment in May as a one-night competition - and the future of September Council meetings.

Minor KO Update - 14/06/2011
Minor Knockout organiser Jon Smith has been forced to crack the whip to keep the competition to schedule, threatening to default one of the quarter finalists for not playing their match on time.
Coddon B and Shrewsbury B have been given a final deadline to play their match, with the threat that one of them will be kicked out of the competition if they fail to make it. Smith hasn't said how he will choose which one to default if it comes to the crunch, but no doubt will access who has been most to blame for the delay.
Smith, running the competition for the first time, said: "I am very pleased that it has actually gone very well. One Shrewsbury team pulled out before the competition started, but otherwise all the games have been played, and pretty much on time.
"We have three semi finalists. Coddon B and Shrewsbury B are badly over the deadline and I have reluctantly had to tell them that if the game was not played by yesterday (Monday June 13) one of them will be defaulted.  It's not necessarily easy to be strict with people but if the alternative is another failed competition then I am prepared to risk offending people.
"Shifnal & Telford look very strong and it is hard to see them not beating Coddon C in one semi final. In the other half of the draw is Telepost B, who will be playing either Shrewsbury B and Coddon B. It's very hard to predict which of those will make the final.
" I am hoping to arrange the final at Priorslee, make a bit of an occasion of the new venue of Priorslee Lions. "However that will depend on the opinion of the two finalists."
In the latest match, Oswestry A went down at home to Coddon C in a 3-1 defeat -  A Peile 1, G Viszokai 0; S Tulett 0, A Pickles 1; A Evans 0, C Paul 1; E Stevenson 0, P Mellor 1.

Wellington find going tough - 07/06/2011
Shifnal & Telford B and Wellington had anything but a level playing field in their encounter in the latest round of the Minor Knockout competition. The Shifnal & Telford players arrived at their venue to find all the sets locked up in their cupboard - and nobody had a key. With a lot of sets needed quickly, Richard Thompson rang Wellington A's Toby Neal to ask to borrow his sets. They were quickly taken down to the venue but, on opening out all the plastic chess boards, a problem became apparent. Because they had been stored in a suitcase, they had all become rucked up with the result that when laid out, they had the appearance of a ridge and furrow field. Pieces placed on the boards stood at crazy angles.
"Normally I put the plastic boards on my heated car seat to flatten them out, but because it was all at a rush I forgot," said Neal.
The players ploughed on (no pun intended) regardless, with the boards gradually settling down as they warmed up and with the weight of the pieces. Stefan Tennant set Shifnal & Telford on their way with a quick win over Martin Walsh with an unstoppable attack down the h-file. Meanwhile on top board Neil Sampson lost a pawn out of the opening, albeit with some compensation, and went on to lose against Steve Tarr. It was John Lenton who was the only Wellington player to emerge with anything, drawing against Richard Thompson.
After their 3.5-0.5 win, Shifnal & Telford now go into the semi final.
Meanwhile Shropshire chess players are being urged to take the opportunity to take on one-time English world title contender Nigel Short, who is coming to the county for a simultaneous display in October. Organiser Francis Best said: "We have had a strong interest in the event but, as so often seems to be the Salopian way, quite a few of those expressing interest have not actually translated this into a firm commitment and booking. "Similarly, a number of Shropshire's strongest have yet to sign up for the event and it would be nice to give Nigel a good run for his money, if nothing else!"
The aims of the event are to raise the profile of Shropshire chess, generate a surplus to plough back into future events, but mainly to be a great event for chess players Further details available from Francis Best.

Exciting climax to Shropshire individual championship - 31/05/2011
Shropshire's individual championship is moving into its final round with six players in with a shout of the title of the county's chess king.
Newport's Nick Rutter goes into his last game in the lead on five points needing only a draw to guarantee him at least a share of the title. His seventh round opponent is Shrewsbury's David Everington on four points. The other crucial games are those between Telepost's Nigel Ferrington (4.5) and Shrewsbury's Jamie Hopkins (4), and between Glyn Pugh of Priorslee Lions and Shifnal & Telford's Trevor Brotherton (4.5).
Pugh is on three points but has a game in hand, thanks to an unfinished sixth round encounter against clubmate Andy Tunks, who has 3.5 points in the bag. Tunks faces Richard Bryant in his last game and, as he could still potentially reach 5.5 points, Tunks may yet come up on the rails to take a share of the title.
In the penultimate round Newport's Tony Holdford played his favourite King's Gambit against Everington, giving up a pawn as early as move two to create attacking possibilities. Everington, playing black, successfully negotiated the minefields and went on to win.
Here is the game, with annotations from the tournament bulletin:
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 f5 4 exf5 d5 5 d4 Bd6 6 Bb5 check c6 7 Bd3 Qf6 8 O- O Bxf5 9 Bxf5 Qxf5 10 Ne5 Bxe5 11 Qe2 Ne7 12 dxe5 Ng6 13 g4 Qe6 14 Bxf4 O-O 15 Bg3 Rxf1 chk 16 Kxf1 Nd7 17 Nd2 Rf8 chk 18 Kg2 Nf4 chk 19 Bxf4 Rxf4 20 h3 Qxe5 21 Qxe5 Nxe5 22 Re1 Ng6 23 Kg3 Kf7 24 Nf3 Ra4 25 a3 h6 26 Ne5 chk  Nxe5 27 Rxe5 g6 28 h4 Rd4 29 Re2 Rd1 30 Rf2 chk Ke7 31 Kg2 Re1 32 Kg3 Re3 chk 33 Kg2 c5 34 c3 d4 35 cxd4 cxd4 36 Rd2 d3 37 Kf2 Rh3 38 Kg2 Re3 39 Kf2 Re2 chk 40 Rxe2 chk dxe2 41 Kxe2 Kf6 42 b3? (42 a4 leads to a draw) 42... g5! 43 hxg5 chk (the "open" sealed move. White resigns as hxg5 would now win).

It's been quite a month for teenager Nathanael Paul from Priorslee Lions, who was a key part of the team which won the Cox Trophy, and also chalked up an impressive individual victory in the Rhyl Congress, where he won the Major section with a score of 4.5 out of 5. His clubmate Gary White was also among the prizewinners.

Priorslee Lions win Quickplay Cox Trophy - 24/05/2011
Priorslee Lions gobbled up the opposition to gain a roaring success in the new-look Cox Trophy competition involving chess clubs from across Shropshire.
Nine teams took part in the tournament which, as a trial, was being held as a one-night event for the first time, with players up against the clock thanks to rapid time limits - 20 minutes for the entire game in the group stages, and just 10 minutes in the semi final and final. And it was the clock which sealed the victory for Priorslee Lions A in the exciting final in which their team - Glyn Pugh, Nathanael Paul, William Bates, Jim O'Neil, and Andy Tunks - squared up against a powerful Shifnal & Telford A outfit. With a running score of 2-2, all depended on the outcome of a massive time scramble involving O'Neil and the veteran Iain Wilson. It was Wilson's flag which fell first, to a round of applause from spectators for their dramatic finale.
It is the first silverware for Priorslee Lions under that new name. Formerly they were Coddon Chess Club. Sadly they will have to wait to receive their trophy as the Cox Trophy has mysteriously gone missing.
In contrast to the glory of the A team, Priorslee Lions B scored only half a game point, leaving team member Gary White wondering whether there might be a wooden spoon prize.
Fancied Shrewsbury A, the league champions, crashed out in the semi-final and had to be content with third place, winning the 3rd/4th place playoff with a 5-0 lashing of Ludlow.
Competition organiser Toby Neal said: "There was a great atmosphere. With nearly 50 players there, it must be many years since there has been such a big gathering of Shropshire players, and I include the Wrekin Congress in that. "Some players don't like rapid chess, but people seemed to enjoy the format, and the feedback I got was really positive. Priorslee A shone and came through against tough opposition and were worthy winners. It's just a pity we couldn't present the trophy to them at the end of the evening."
Cox Trophy Final result: Shifnal & Telford 2, Priorslee Lions A 3 - T Brotherton 1, G Pugh 0; D Gostelow 0, N Paul 1; R Thompson 0, W Bates 1; I Wilson 0, J O'Neil 1; S Tennant 1, A Tunks 0.
3rd/4th place playoff: Shrewsbury A 5, Ludlow 0 - D Everington 1, J Watson 0; F Best 1, J Whittaker 0; S Rooney 1, R Woodley 0; J Parrott 1, P Munday 0; M Best 1, Templeton 0.

Shropshire juniors shine at the Magafinal - 10/05/2011
A trip down the A49 to the Megafinal in Hereford - part of a nationwide series of chess events for juniors - saw Shropshire juniors return with four trophies and a number of qualifiers for the next stage of the UK Chess Challenge.
Six Shropshire juniors won their sections to be declared Supremos and qualify for the Northern Gigafinal that takes place in July. Two Shropshire junior academy members - Heath Pearson and Francis Rooney - won all their games at the Megafinal. Ten-year old Heath swept aside all opposition in his section to take the Supremo slot, and Francis Rooney won all six of his games in the tough combined section for 14 to18 year-olds and was under-16 Supremo.
The Shropshire winners list was: under-7 boys supremo, Billy Hudson, Castle House School; under-9 boys runner-up, Luca Ebola, St George's School; under-10 Supremo, Heath Pearson, Oxon School; under-10 girls runner-up, Rhiannon Wilson, Radbrook School; under-13 boys runner-up, Morgan Warcroft, Abraham Darby.
Under-15 Supremo, Matthew Best, Mary Webb School; under-15 boys runner-up, Ben Spicer, Bridgnorth Endowed; under-16 Supremo, Francis Rooney, Church Stretton School; under-17 Supremo, James Sloan, Idsall School; under-18 girls Supremo, Jade Bonner, Abraham Darby School; under-18 boys Supremo, Ben Treadwell, Abraham Darby School.
Winners of rosettes for those who scored at least 3.5 points from their 6 matches were: Ella Mates, St Lawrences U11G; Alfie Deal and Ben Sutton, Castle House U10B; Oscar Stone and Duncan Parry, St Georges U11B; Darren Ward, Abraham Darby U12B; Matthew Taylor, Idsall School U13B. Shropshire schools represented at the Megafinal were: Abraham Darby, Bridgnorth Endowed, Castle House, Church Stretton, Idsall, Mary Webb, Radbrook, St George's, and St Lawrence's.

Oswestry A captain Ashley Peile has angrily denied a claim by Shifnal & Telford B counterpart Stefan Tennant that he sent a draw offer by text days in advance of their end-of-season match and then, when it was refused by Tennant, followed it up with a no-show.
Shifnal & Telford players had the boards laid out and the clocks were ticking as they waited in vain for Oswestry to show up. But Peile says that he warned Tennant that he could only field two players, and has flatly denied that he ever offered a draw by text - and has challenged Tennant to produce any such text.
Peile said: "The Thursday before the Wednesday of the scheduled match, I left a message with a woman, I presume his partner, as he was out playing chess when I phoned. I explained we only had two players available that night and that they could either claim a default or, as our team were still interested in playing, to reschedule. "The next day I got a text message, saying that he had his team for Wednesday and that they played and lost at our club with a reduced side. I texted him back telling him we only had two players and if he didn't want to reschedule to take the default. He just replied, 'I will keep to Wednesday next week.'
"I informed the Oswestry team that we were defaulting and that Stefan was being an awkward git, by saying he was keeping to Wednesday even though I had told him to take a default." Peile said club colleague Graham Ives texted Tennant to tell him Oswestry could not field a team. "Unfortunately, I have since deleted all my sent messages to create space on my phone," said Peile, but added: "I would like to make very clear that I did not even mention a draw, let alone offer one, and I am quite offended by the comments."

All square at the top of Div 3 - 03/05/2011
Division Three's climax to the season has ended in a remarkable fashion - with an amazing dead heat at the top of the table which is going to be resolved by an unprecedented playoff to decide the championship title. Coddon C and Wellington B are on equal points, their "goal difference" is exactly the same, and they have both scored the same number of game points - 25 - meaning that they cannot be separated. League controller Vinny Crean is now in the process of arranging the playoff, which will be for glory, prestige and pride rather than promotion, as both teams are already guaranteed a place in Division Two next season.
Trevor Brotherton and Nigel Ferrington are in the lead in Shropshire's individual championship, with both on four points going into the sixth and penultimate round, in which they are paired against each other. Brotherton has a game in hand, as he has not yet completed his fifth rounder against Nick Rutter. Rutter is among three players in the chasing pack on 3.5 points, the other two being Andy Tunks and Jamie Hopkins.
The deadline has now passed for entries into the Cox Trophy summer knockout, which this time round is experimentally being played as a quickplay tournament on one night. Ten teams have entered the competition which will be at Shifnal & Telford club's venue at The Nedge, Stirchley, on May 18.
Organiser Toby Neal said: "I'm going to canvass captains about the format, but my plan is for a first round with a 20 minute time control - played in two back-to-back stages because the venue can only comfortably accommodate four simultaneous matches -  with all other rounds having a 10 minute time control."Five winning teams and the highest scoring loser from the first round will go into the quarter finals. It will mean there are two quarter final spaces still available, and the four remaining first round losers will battle it out for these places in a special playoff. "It will mean everybody, even in losing teams, gets at least two games of chess on the night." Teams taking part are: Shrewsbury A, Shifnal & Telford A, Shifnal & Telford C, Telepost C (probably a mixed team),  Telepost D,  Newport B,  Ludlow A,  Wellington A,  Priorslee Lions (formerly Coddon) A, Priorslee Lions B.

Introducing Shropshire's new chess club - 26/04/2011
A new club is roaring onto the Shropshire chess scene - the Priorslee Lions. With the closure in April of the Coddon Sports and Social Club in Telford, Coddon chess club lost their home since 1987, but have now found a new venue at the Lion Inn at Priorslee. To reflect the new chapter in their history, they have changed their name to the Priorslee Lions. There's a new club night as well - Mondays.
In the final issue of the league, Ludlow A secured promotion to Division One with a 4-1 win over Newport B. Shrewsbury B pushed them all the way, their 1.5-3.5 victory over already-promoted Church Stretton A putting them on equal points with Ludlow, but their inferior "goal difference" means they miss out.
Elsewhere Shifnal & Telford B had the boards set out and the clocks were ticking as they waited for the arrival of Oswestry A. "I'm not expecting them to turn up," said captain Stefan Tennant as he played a social game to pass the time. His prediction was proven correct, and there was an Oswestry no-show. The abortive match may make history of a sort as it is possibly the first ever in Shropshire chess in which a draw has been offered by text in advance of the fixture.
Tennant says that Oswestry captain Ashley Peile had texted him offering a draw, as Oswestry could only rustle up two players, and nothing turned on the match. But Tennant resisted that, taking the view that his side had made the 80-mile round trip to Oswestry earlier in the season with a reduced team, and had also had to concede when he could not raise a team against Ludlow. "I said 'I'll see you next Wednesday', and that's how I left it."He got his answer on the night.
Date of this year's Cox Trophy has been definitely fixed for May 18 at Shifnal & Telford's venue at The Nedge, Stirchley. As an experiment to try to revive interest it is being played as a one-night quickplay knockout, with a probable 10 minutes per player time limit. Unlike previous years, teams will not be automatically entered - only those who want to take part will take part. Entries have to be in by the end of this month. Details are on the Shropshire chess website, www.shropshirechess.org

Parrott on top perch for champions - 19/04/2011
Dominant Shrewsbury A have won the league championship by an astonishing margin of nine clear points helped by a starring role by John Parrott who may have set a league record by winning all his 14 games over the season. Parrott, who took a break from chess a couple of seasons back, simply steamrollered all opposition as he returned refreshed to chess action.
In the end-of-season tie against Coddon B, Parrott once again played a vital role by beating Marvin Carbin to put Shrewsbury 2-1 up, and on course for a 3-2 victory in a match Coddon B had to win to ensure survival in the first division. Captain David Everington said his 100 per cent record over the season was possibly unprecedented. Of the match overall, he said it was the league champion's hardest of the season.
"The board 4 game had people clustering round to watch as Munro Morrison lost the exchange but retaliated by sacrificing a second exchange which left his minor pieces and queen hovering menacingly around Mark Smith's King.  After deep complications which were hard work for both players Morrison won the argument. "Francis Best clinched it for Shrewsbury with some enterprising play which pushed John Tunks into time trouble which eventually cost him the game."
Coddon B's loss meant the next night's encounter between the two bottom-placed teams, Wellington A and Telepost B, was a winner-takes-all affair as whoever won would survive in Division One - and the loser would be relegated. In the event Telepost suffered their first whitewash in a long time and join Coddon in the drop.
Newport A's student stars, available thanks to the university holiday, helped the team cruise to victory over Shifnal & Telford A, whose captain Trevor Brotherton reports: "In the annual students vs old men fixture the games got off to a flying start, once we had selected the appropriate pair of spectacles to see the pieces. Sadly after this false dawn the Telford players began to suffer. The burden of making more than 20 moves in two hours was asking a little too much. Well done Dave Gostelow who got out while the going was good against fellow veteran Tony Holdford."
In Division Two all hangs on the final fixtures to see whether it is Ludlow A or Shrewsbury B who join Church Stretton A in promotion, while a draw by Wellington B was enough to ensure that they are promoted from Division Three, together with Coddon C.
On the congress scene, Shropshire's Paul Broderick was second in the Minor section of the Nottinghamshire Chess Congress.

Nail-biting finish at the foot of Division 1 - 05/04/2011
Division One's relegation dogfight is on a knife edge after bottom-placed Telepost B chalked up a vital win which gives them real hope of staging a great escape. They are now level on points with Wellington A - whom they meet in the last game of the season. Just one point ahead are Telford-based Coddon B, the team Telepost narrowly defeated in the latest round of matches.
It's time to get the slide rules out to work out the various permutations, but in simple terms Coddon can guarantee themselves survival if they beat runaway league champions Shrewsbury A in their final game.That won't be easy, and Shrewsbury underlined their form by dispatching Wellington A.
Shrewsbury captain David Everington reports: "The game of the evening was Wellington's only win. Toby Neal on board two was a pawn down with black against Jamie Hopkins but showed how opposite coloured bishops can be far from drawish with rooks and queens still on the board.  "He got an iron grip on the white squares with his bishop and found a rook sacrifice to open up the white king in Hopkins' dire time trouble. "It might not have been a certain winner but Hopkins had no time to analyse the position and his flag duly fell.
"John Parrott on board five reached the remarkable score of 13 points from 13 and is just one game away from an unprecedented 100 per cent league score over the season."
In Division Three, Coddon C missed the chance to ensure being promoted as champions with a defeat by Wellington B, who are now favourites to join them in the step up, as third-placed Shrewsbury C have both to win their final game and also rely on certain scoreline permutations because of their inferior "goal difference."
There was a Church Stretton double at the Hereford congress when Francis Rooney and his dad Steve Rooney both came away with prizes. Francis took third place in the Minor (under-120) and the under-100 grading prize, while Steve was equal first in the Open. Francis was undefeated and finished on 3.5 points. He could easily have finished in second place but for a bizarre end to a rival's game in the crucial final round, when a local Hereford player resigned because he couldn't cope with the pressure of everyone watching, just when his opponent had managed to squander all of his advantage and create a dead-drawn position. Steve finished on three points - not normally enough to win a prize, never mind a share of first place - but the section was a low-scoring affair and was a much weaker field than you'd normally find at an Open. The event suffered from a very low entry overall.

Look south for promotion - 29/03/2011
South Shropshire's finest are knocking on the door of Division One, with Church Stretton A already securing promotion and Ludlow aiming to join them in the step up. Stretton made certain by putting Telepost C to the sword, and will now be out to ensure that they go up as division champions.
Ludlow A did not have to break sweat in their whitewash of Shifnal & Telford B, as they were gifted the match through default. With two games to go, however, Shrewsbury B could still spoil their party and overhaul them.
Shropshire went down to a 9-7 away defeat against Derbyshire in a match for players graded under 140, and did themselves no favours by defaulting two boards. Wins came from Gary White, Windsor Peck, Alan Pickles, Ivor Saltor, Derrick Powell, and Richard Szwajkun, with draws from John Tunks and Roger Brown.
Meanwhile Shropshire chess has taken a technological step forward thanks to the efforts of Graham Ives of Oswestry Chess Club. He has programmed a results and player database. It means when team captains submit league results through the county's chess website, the database and league tables are automatically updated.

Storm clouds over Wellington - 22/03/2011
The mournful strains of the dirge-like Macca classic Mull of Kintyre summed up the mood for Wellington A as they crashed to defeat in a crucial relegation avoidance battle with fellow strugglers Coddon B. In fact as Colin Roberts grimly surveyed the ruins of his position as the skirl of the bagpipes drifted in from the adjoining bar, he jokingly accused opponent Munroe Morrison of having put the record on the jukebox to depress him even more. "I object to that. I'm from Berwick-on-Tweed," Morrison retorted.
Morrison had made what had looked like a misconceived queen sacrifice after which it seemed all Roberts had to do was mop up in the pivotal game of the match. In returning to his seat after one of his occasional trips to the bar to keep an eye on the progress of Liverpool FC on the big screen, he found that Morrison had made a knight move which he had completely overlooked or underestimated, giving him a choice of losing his queen or suffering immediate checkmate. He chose the former, but was left with a hopeless position and resigned a few moves later.
Coddon B now climb out of the relegation zone at the expense of Wellington A, with all turning on the last two matches.
At the other end of the division Shrewsbury have sealed the league championship with a victory over Telepost B.
Shrewsbury's David Everington reports: "Telepost made a serious bid to beat the leaders. Despite an early loss on board two, the home side's increasingly impressive Philip Zabrocki held Jamie Hopkins to a draw on top board despite a grading difference of 26 points. "The game of the night was Peter Crean's win against Peter Kitchen in a tactical melee which attracted quite a crowd around the board as Kitchen pursued the enemy king to stave off a back-rank mate. Crean eventually found a shelter from checks for his monarch and won next move."

Top grandmaster to visit Shropshire - 15/03/2011
Shropshire players are to get the chance to take on one of the top English players of the modern age - Nigel Short, who unsuccessfully challenged Garry Kasparov for the title of world chess champion in the 1990s.
Chess star Short is undertaking a tour in which he gives simultaneous displays on 30 boards, and lectures, together with English Chess Federation president CJ de Mooi and, after canvassing views of local players and receiving positive feedback, Shropshire Chess Association president Francis Best has now booked Short to come on October 16. The event will be at the Wrekin Housing Trust in Colliers Way, Telford, and Best now wants to hear from players interested in taking part.
He said a few people had thought the proposed cost of £40 was a little high, but it was in fact only a suggestion and he would work to reduce it, and it would be much easier to do that if players made an early commitment to be involved. He is also looking for potential sponsorship or corporate support.
"Some people suggested that we don't have enough players within Shropshire to give adequate support for this event. For this reason, we will open up the event to neighbouring counties in due course," said Best. "I wanted to give initial preference to Shropshire players but again, this preference will be wasted unless people register in good time."
He added: "I intend to do all I can to make this a truly memorable event for Shropshire chess and have started to assemble a team to help with this. I would welcome contact from other Shropshire players to bolster this team – let's make this a substantial boost to Shropshire chess!"
In the league, Church Stretton A have moved three points clear at the head of Division Two thanks to a win over Shifnal & Telford B.
Reporting the result on his blog on the Stretton website, Steve Rooney says: "It was another line-up we haven't had before - will we get to the end of the season without playing the same team twice?
"An early win for Gerald Link on board four got us off to a good start, which was soon followed by Karl Wakefield winning on board two when Andy Jones' position crumbled under the pressure of two pins. A draw was agreed on board three between Graham Shepherd and Roger Brown which left the two Rooneys to finish.
"Francis on board 5 was a piece ahead but his opponent had better activity and gradually used his initiative to grind out a win. Steve Rooney on board one turned down a draw, which would have clinched the victory, but got the full point when Windsor Peck's flag fell in what was then a completely winning position for the Stretton captain."

Special award for Athar - 08/03/2011
Junior chess ace Athar Mehmood has received a special award in recognition of his national and international achievements.
The 14-year-old, who is a student at Wrekin College in Telford, was among 40 young people from schools across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin who were honoured at the annual John Beswick International Awards evening at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury. The event acknowledges the achievements of Shropshire's top young sports stars who have represented their county - and, in Athar's case, his country, as he played for England in a chess tournament in Poland. It also recognises his national achievements in the National Youth Chess Association.
Athar, who was nominated for the award by Wrekin College head of games Jim Mostyn, said: "I am very proud to have been nominated, and it is an honour to be chosen to represent England. I hope my school and Newport Chess Club are proud of me." As well as representing his own country, Athar plays on top board for the Staffordshire under-14 team which came sixth in the NYCA championship, with Athar winning all his four games.
Shrewsbury A have missed the chance to more or less wrap up the league championship by drawing against county town rivals Telepost A, bringing to an end Shrewsbury's long run of straight wins.
Shrewsbury's Peter Kitchen said: "Normally something exciting happens in the Shrewsbury town derby, but not in this case. They were all really dour struggles that fizzled out into a match draw, with no fireworks. John Parrott had taken us to the verge of the title by beating Charles Micallef on bottom board, but Jamie Hopkins lost the deciding game to Nigel Ferrington after getting into his habitual time trouble."
Struggling Telepost B and Coddon B have both chalked up wins which dramatically improve their chances of avoiding the drop. Telepost's victims were Shifnal & Telford A. In reporting the result, Shifnal & Telford's Trevor Brotherton wrote in the "comment box" simply: "Not printable."
It's interesting how others see you, and in Shropshire's 7-9 defeat against Worcestershire in the under-140 county team championship we have, unusually, the match report by Giles Stanton.
"It was a close run affair. One of Worcester's players had to withdraw at the last moment because his wife had a fall, resulting in a nasty head injury. "Kyle Reed played with assurance capitalising on his opponent's (Dele Ogundipe) mistakes to gain Worcs' first win.
"Worcester players Doug Bott and Francis O'Gorman regained their form to score wins. Doug with well marshalled troops overwhelmed his opponent's (Alan Pickles) castled king. Francis O'Gorman maintained an Iron grip on the position while his opponent (Roger Brown) fell behind on the clock, eventually losing on time. "Both of Worcester's Friar brothers sacrificed a pawn in the opening and used their superior development to score. In Joseph's case winning a piece (against Chris Paul) and James's case his centralised queen and knight threatening mate on the move: too much for his opponent (Eugene Raby) to cope with. "The board 15 game was hard-fought. Arnold Kirkland had what looked like a winning attack but Shropshire's Derrick Powell came in with counter threats and both sides were threatening to queen a pawn. With the threats nullified, a draw was agreed."

Brotherton in pole position - 01/03/2011
Trevor Brotherton is the early leader in Shropshire's individual championship, with three straight wins putting him half a point clear of his nearest challengers. Brotherton is paired against Newport's Tony Holdford in the fourth round. Among the chasing pack is Nick Rutter, who successfully rode out an attack from Andy Tunks. Here is that game, with Tunks with the white pieces and annotations from Rutter.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 e6 4 e3 Nf6 5 Qc2 Nbd7 6 Nf3 Bd6 7 g4 dxc4 8 Bxc4 e5!? 9 Bd2 exd4 10 Nxd4 Ne5 11 Be2 Bxg4 12 f3 Bh5 (I thought Bh3 might be best here, but couldn't resist the idea of playing Bg6) 13 O-O-O Bg6 (The bishop lies uneasy here as it may get trapped by the f or h pawn) 14 e4 Nd5 (a risky move in view of f4-f5) 15 f4 Nb4 16 Qb1 Be7 17 Be3 Nd7 18 f5 Bg5 19 Bd2 Bh5 20 Bxh5 Ne5 21 Be2 c5 22 Bb5 check (The move to play is 22 Ndb5 Ned3 chk 23 Bxd3 Nxd3 chk  24 Qxd3! Qxd3 25 Bxg5 and white is winning) 22... Kf8 (Now it's is level) 23 Ne6 chk fxe6 24 fxe6 (24 Rhg1 would be level) 24.. c4 (now black is clearly better) 25 Rhf1 chk Kg8 26 Bxg5 Qxg5 chk 27 Rd2 Rd8 28 Nd5 Ned3 chk 29 Qxd3!? (The more obvious Kd1 is simply better for black) 29... Nxd3 chk 30 Kb1 h6 (Not 30... Qxd2 31 Ne7 checkmate!) 31 e7 Kh7 32 exd8(Q) Rxd8 33 Rdd1? (33 Rfd1 is best, but black is well on top) 33...Qg2! This threatens checkmate on b2. Tunks resigned here.
Latest league action has all been in division two, where leaders Church Stretton A whitewashed Oswestry A, who are in serious danger of relegation. Oswestry A are one of those teams which look strong on paper - with Brian Whyte and Ieuan Fenton among their nominated players - but in the real world Whyte and Fenton have not played for them at all so far this season.
Church Stretton are two points clear at the head of the division, although second place Ludlow A have two games in hand. Newport B ran Telepost C close but stay rooted to the foot of the table after a run of eight straight losses and need a miracle turnaround if they are to avoid the drop.

Hearing is believing - 22/02/2011
League leaders Shrewsbury A have stretched their winning run after an extraordinary incident bordering on farce in which John Parrott put the "deaf" into the defeat of his opponent.
Parrott was losing on time and was also slightly material down when Coddon A's Graham Shepherd offered him a draw. Parrott, whose flag was on the horizontal, would have snatched his hand off - had he heard him. "But he uses earplugs in league matches and failed to hear the offer, carried on playing, and Shepherd somehow managed to lose!" reports Shrewsbury captain David Everington. Had Shepherd won, the match result would have been a draw, meaning Shrewsbury would have dropped a point for the first time this season. Earlier Everington had got the county town side off to a good start when Glyn Pugh walked into an ambush in the Latvian Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5).
On the county scene, Shropshire's under-140 team scored a 8.5-7.5 win over Nottinghamshire in a match played at Shifnal. Wins came from John Westhead, Marvin Carbin, Ian Davies, Dele Ogundipe, Roger Brown and Derrick Powell, and draws from Peter Crean, John Tunks, Graham Ives, Ivor Salter, and George Viszokai.
In the league, Newport Juniors have had to withdraw from the third division. Captain Jamie Allan has struggled for several months to keep the outfit going but unfortunately only himself and one other junior player can commit to the rest of the season. Matches played so far will be declared void and the table adjusted.
There was a double for the Telford-based Coddon club at the Warwickshire Congress, with Gary White winning second prize and £70 in the under-145 section, with a score of four out of five, and Nathanael Paul winning the £20 grading prize in the under-170 section with a score of 3/5.
Here is White's fifth round victory over Matthew Wilson, which ensured him a share of the plunder. White was playing with the black pieces and annotates the game. He analysed it later on the Fritz chess computer programme - which reckoned that at one stage White was the equivalent of almost five pawns down, a resignable disadvantage. However a blunder by Wilson caused an amazing turnaround.
1 Nf3 b6 2 b3 Bb7 3 Bb2 e6 4 e3 d6 5 d4 Nd7 6 Bd3 a6 7 0–0 g5 8 e4 g4 9 Ne1 h5 10 f3 Qh4 11 d5 e5 12 f4 Bg7 13 Nd2 Nc5 14 Nc4 b5 15 Ne3 Ne716 a4 bxa4 17 b4 Nxd3 18 Nxd3 Bc8 19 g3 Qf6 20 fxe5 Qh6 21 Nf5 Nxf5 22 exf5 h4 23 Qe2 hxg3 24 exd6 check Kf8 25 Bxg7 chk Kxg7 26 f6 chk Kh7 27 Qe4 chk Qg6 28 Qxg6 chk Kxg6 (Fritz has this position at plus 4.68 to white, so not good for me!) 29 hxg3 (blunder! Ne5 is much stronger!) cxd6 30 Rxa4 Bf5 (Fritz 0.00) 31 b5? axb5 32 Rxa8 Rxa8 (now plus 2.03 in black's favour – what a turnaround in just four moves!) 33 Rb1 Bxd3 34 cxd3 Ra3 35 Rxb5 Kxf6 36 Rb4 Rxd3 37 Rxg4 Rxd5 38 Kf2 Re5 39 Ra4 Ke6 40 Ra6 f5 41 Kf3 Re4 42 Rb6 Ke5 43 Rb5 chk d5 44 Ra5 Rc4 45 Ra8 Rc6 46 Ra5 Rc3 chk 47 Kf2 Ke4 48 Ra8 Rc2 chk 49 Ke1 Rg2 50 Re8 chk Kd3 51 Rd8 d4 52 Rd5 Ke4 53 Rd8 Rxg3 54 Re8 chk Kd3 55 Rf8 Re3 chk 56 Kf1 Re5 57 Rh8 f4 58.Rh3 chk Re3 59 Rh4 Ke4 60 Rh8 d3 61 Re8 chk Kd4 62 Rd8 chk Kc3 63 Kf2 Kd2 64 Rf8 Re4 65 Ra8 Rc4 66 Rf8 Kd1 67 Ra8 d2 68 Re8 Kc1 and Wilson resigned.

U140 defaults prove decisive against Staffs - 15/02/2011
Two defaulted boards cost Shropshire's team for players graded under 140 dear in their home match against Staffordshire.
Home wins on four of the five top boards were more than offset by a string of noughts, including the two defaults, on boards 12 to 16, leaving a 9-7 scoreline. Winners were Peter Crean, John Westhead, Gary White, Marvin Carbin, and Vincent Crean, with draws from Stefan Tennant, John Tunks, Alan Pickles, and George Viszokai. Staffordshire fielded a strength-in-depth side, with only 18 grading points separating their strongest and their weakest player, whereas for Shropshire the difference was 34 grading points. The Paul family did a double at Nottingham rapidplay, where Chris Paul was equal first in the Minor section, earning him £75, and son Nathanael was joint second in the Intermediate section, coming away with £25.
Here are some of the inside stories behind some of the latest league encounters.
Shifnal & Telford A 1, Coddon B 4 - Trevor Brotherton reports: "'Enter the twighlight zone where reality is inverted. What can I say? Even Stefan Tennant who usually wins got turned over. I refused a draw and lost; Richard Thompson was 'Grobbed'; and Michal Wronski tried blitz chess. Sensei Iain Wilson managed to salvage our pride."
Newport A 2, Shrewsbury A 3: "With Jamie Hopkins and Francis Best unavailable this might have been Shrewsbury's first loss. But reserves Ray Cox and Norman O'Connor secured an important win after John Parrot won on board three for the visitors.
" Newport's top board played a long but very accurate game to grind down David Everington on top board but Tony Holdford finally beat Peter Kitchen with his favourite King's Gambit at the fourth attempt. In the three previous game he has played 3 Nf3 but this time varied with 3 Bc4 and won very neatly." (report by David Everington)
Coddon A 2.5, Telepost B 2.5: "My game against Steve Kempsell was a little on the wild side and I bet Steve could predict very few of my moves. In the cold light of day, my game was unsound most of the time but very frightening to be facing under time pressure." (report by Glyn Pugh)

Foxy Griffiths keeps Newport in the hunt - 25/01/2011
A cunning piece of sorcery by Danny Griffiths secured Newport A a thrilling last ditch victory in their encounter against Wellington A to keep them in the title hunt.
With league leaders Shrewsbury A beating an under-strength Shifnal & Telford A, anything less than a win for second placed Newport would have seen them lose ground in the battle for the league championship. Not for the first time Richard Gillespie found Wellington's hopes of salvaging the match resting on his shoulders, as he learned that the team needed him to beat Griffiths to draw the encounter. "No pressure then," teammate Colin Roberts informed him, more than once.
Gillespie had gone material ahead after landing a knight fork, at which Griffiths dropped his shoulders and said ruefully: "I've been looking for this all night." He played on, saying: "Let's see if I can do it." His own knight then proved to be a very frisky steed and, while it didn't land a fork of its own, its leaping about and some passed pawns gave Gillespie a lot to think about - so much so, that when Griffiths lost the knight to go into the endgame a whole rook down, Gillespie's flag was already past the horizontal. Desperately trying to simplify, Gillespie captured a pawn to reach a position, the essentials of which was that he had rooks on b7 and b5, and Griffiths had a rook on c5 and pawn on e6, at which Griffiths pulled his rabbit out of the hat and played his pawn to e7.
At first sight - and with Gillespie having to make his moves instantly he didn't have time for anything else - this gave the illusion that black can only stop the pawn queening by Rxe7 (if Rb8, then Rxb5), thus losing his rook on b5. This is what Gillespie played and, with all hope of winning gone, then offered a draw which, on checking with his captain that that ensured his team victory, Griffiths accepted. But there was a wrinkle in the position that they had both missed. Gillespie's king was on g7 and, as Colin Roberts pointed out afterwards, simply moving it to f7 would have ruined Griffiths' little trick. It may have been academic anyway, as Gillespie had only seconds left on his clock and it is questionable whether he would have had enough time to win the game.

Local stars shine over Wrekin - 11/01/2011
Shropshire players scored their best results for years in what could be the last ever Wrekin Chess Congress held at Madeley Court Centre in which 88 contenders from far and wide battled for glory and cash prizes totalling over £1,000. There were home wins in two of the three sections and chief controller David Thomas said that he had not seen so many Shropshire players among the prize list in his 25 years' of involvement with the tournament.
Roger Brown, of the Shifnal & Telford club, scooped the £200 first prize in the Minor by steamrollering the opposition, winning all his five games, including the vital last round match against Shrewsbury's Ivor Salter.
"I went into the final round needing a draw to be certain of first place. I did offer a draw a couple of times, and it was refused. Then, just as I was about to win a pawn, I was offered a draw - and I refused. A pawn up, I was able to force the win. I'm very pleased," said Brown.
Newport's Gavyn Cooper, on his Christmas break from Durham University, had a dramatic win in his final game to seal victory in the strongest section, the Premier, on four points out of five. "It's great," he said. "I played quite well - and a bit of luck helps."
Only in the intermediate Major section were Shropshire players shut out, where five players shared first place on a surprisingly low score of 3.5 out of 5 - Tom Robinson (Redditch), Brenda O'Gorman (DHSS), Tim Lane (South Birmingham), Adrian Walker (Leamington), and Phil Bull (West Bromwich).
Four Shropshire youngsters, Heath Pearson, Francis Rooney, Peter Mellor, and Matthew Best, nabbed the tournament's junior prizes. Among other locals grabbing a share of glory was Graham Ives of Oswestry, who was runner up in the Minor, and there were no fewer than eight in third spot, three of whom, Tim Skidmore (Shifnal & Telford), Richard Szwajkun (Newport), and Louise Coxon (Solihull), were awarded grading prizes. The other five were Ivor Salter (Shrewsbury), Jonathan Hockey (Wellington), Anthony Meakin (Rugeley), Richard Leaper (Westminster), and Matthew Wilson (unaffiliated).
Stefan Tennant (Shifnal & Telford) won the grading prize in the Major, and Colin Roberts (Wellington), John Footner (Shifnal & Telford), and Francis Best (Shrewsbury), won grading prizes in the Premier - grading prizes, incidentally, are awarded to players who are among the lowest graded in their section but nevertheless turn in good scores. Second place in the Premier was shared by Don Mason (Shirley), Russell James (Rushall), and Andy Barach (Warks).
Organiser Richard Thompson said: "It all went pretty smoothly and everybody seemed to be fairly happy. Numbers were a little bit down, but I think that seems to have been the pattern with congresses during the last few months. "It was a good result for Shropshire, with outright wins in two of the sections. "I'm pleased with how it went."
A question mark hangs over the January 2012 congress, because Madeley Court  Centre is due to close with the opening of the new Abraham Darby Academy which is currently under construction about a mile away. But Mr Thompson said he was not sure whether or not it would be the last congress at the Court Centre.
"When we spoke to the people there last night there seemed to be a little bit of doubt as, while things will be starting to move to the new place in the later part of this year, it was not by any means certain they would have stopped using Madeley Court by the beginning of next year, so we may possibly get in one more congress there."We are trying to come to an arrangement with them whereby if there's space in the new place, and Madeley Court is not still running, we can make a booking for the same week next year for whichever site is available."

100 players accept the challenge - 04/01/2011
Around 100 players are expected to take part in the biggest event in Shropshire's chess calendar, which this year will be historic as the last ever held at the Madeley Court Centre venue which has served so well over many years. This weekend's (JAN 8 AND 9) 11th Wrekin Chess Congress has a prize fund of £1,000 and is a five-round tournament held over the two days.
The Court Centre has been a popular venue for the Wrekin Congress, and the Shropshire Congress which preceded it, but is scheduled to close in the autumn and will quite possibly have been demolished by the time the next congress is due in January 2012. Currently there are about 70 firm entries competing in three sections - the Premier, the Major, and the Minor, each with a first prize of £200.
"This time last year we had had 80, and ended up with about 110, but of course there were a lot of cancellations last year because of the snow," said organiser Richard Thompson. "At the moment the projection is for about 100 entries."
Shropshire hopes in the Premier, the top section for the strongest players, will lie with Nigel Ferrington, from the Shrewsbury-based Telepost club. Ferrington is currently the highest graded entrant, with a grading of 198. But as the grading "cap" is 210 it is possible that somebody higher graded may yet enter. He faces stiff opposition from "away", such as Don Mason of Shirley (graded 196), and Coventry's Mark Page (195). University studies have kept Newport's Gavyn Cooper (191) away from the Shropshire league scene but thanks to the university break he will be another Salopian battling for glory in the Premier.
Maximum grade in the Major is 160, so by definition Wiatt Ropp, of Stratford-on-Avon, must be favourite as his grading is 160. No Shropshire entry so far is graded over 150 and in fact the section, which encompasses club players of medium strength, is mysteriously under-represented in terms of home players.
The Minor is for players graded up to 125, which means it is the battleground for B and C team players, as well as novices and, quite often, those who have been away for chess for so long that they no longer have a grade. Shrewsbury's Ivor Salter and Oswestry's Graham Ives, both graded 124, must be in with a good shout.
Thompson said: "There's still plenty of time to enter, and I would prefer people to do so beforehand rather than on the morning of the tournament. The entry form is available as a download on the website (www.shropshirechess.org), or if people want to email me (richardg.thompson@btinternet.com) with their details, I'm quite happy to accept those entries." The congress is on January 8 and 9, with action starting at 10am each day, with a 45 minute lunch break. There are five rounds, with competitors being paired in each round against an opponent on equal points.

Two too close to call - 21/12/2010
Honours were shared in the battle of the giants of Division Two, which means Church Stretton finish the first half of the season in the top spot after scoring three wins and two draws. But second placed Ludlow, against whom Stretton drew in their latest match, have a game in hand.
Stretton's Steve Rooney has been keeping up with the twists and turns of the campaign with a blog. Stretton have only been running one team this season but have had rather an embarrassment of riches, with nine players regularly being available for the five playing spots. Rooney says that his policy has been to rotate players in the squad to give everybody a game, which is good for the long-term health of the club.
"In fact 'resting' some of our players doesn't seem to have affected our results too much either, with some great performances on all boards," he comments in his blog (http://churchstrettonchess.blogspot.com/)
"Notable individual scores include Chris Pimm Jones and Francis Rooney who both have two wins and a draw from three games, and Graham Shepherd with two wins and a draw from four games.
"Tom Williamson, Gerald Link and Adrian Thorpe all have 50 per cent records with one win and a draw from three games and newcomer this season Dean Pinnington has a 100 per cent record with a win in his debut against Telepost C. "Myself, as captain, am also on 100 per cent with three wins from three games and Eric Elwell has one draw from one game played. "And of course not forgetting Gordon Lyon, who stepped in to play for Church Stretton when bad weather meant we were a player short at Telepost C, by kind permission of Telepost. He held his own for most of his board four match but unfortunately lost out in the end."

Normally at this time of year the next chess action to look forward to is the Wrekin Chess Congress, which is at the Court Centre, Madeley, on January 8 and 9, but rather unusually there are some league matches scheduled in the preceding week. Congress players seeking to trim costs have missed the December 18 deadline for cheapest entry - there's an escalator pricing system to encourage entrants to get in their entries in good time. Next deadline in the escalator is December 31, with prices until then held to £15 for juniors, and £20 for adults. Fees after December 31 are £20 and £25 respectively. Entry details from the Shropshire chess website www.shropshirechess.org.

The congress is fast approaching - 07/12/2010
The clock is ticking down to the big event - and for Shropshire chess players that's not just Christmas, but the Wrekin Chess Congress which follows hard on its heels. And the congress on January 8 and 9 will mark the end of the era as it will be the last at the Madeley Court Centre venue which has served so well.
The Court Centre is due to close next autumn, with facilities switched to the new complex currently under construction on the Abraham Darby site about a mile away.Entrants for the congress have a financial incentive for getting in their entries early, as fees for entries after December 18 are higher. Congress details are on the Shropshire chess website, www.shropshirechess.org
In the league, Church Stretton A are in provisional promotion spot in Division Two after victory in a close match against Telepost C.
For some Shropshire players, playing in the "home scene" is not enough to satisfy their thirst for chess action, and they ply their talents far and wide. Among them is Telepost stalwart Richard Bryant, a veteran of various tournaments around the country who also plays in the 4NCL - Four Nations Chess League. One of his games is featured in a chess blog in which another widely travelled Shropshire player, Phil Makepeace, has a controlling stake.
Here's the game, between Bryant with the white pieces, and John-Paul Taylor, who annotates: 1 e4 d5 2 Nc3!? (Oh, what the hell is this? I took a bit of a think to consider 2...e6 and 2...c6 hoping to transpose into a French or Caro-Kann, before realising I had no idea how to play either) 2...d4 3 Nce2 c5 4 Ng3 e5 5 Bc4 Nf6 6 Nf3 Bd6 7 O-O Bd7 8 d2 b5?! (Not the greatest of ideas. After 9 Bb3 I'd planned to chuck in 9... a5 and really go to town on his queenside, but 10 a4! rains on that bonfire) 9 Bb3 O-O 10 a4 c4!? (I'm still unsure whether this should get a !? or a ?! but I'm feeling generous. This was played partly out of anger that my a5 idea didn't work, partly because I didn't like the look of playing b4 giving white a delicious outpost on c4, and mostly because it looked like good fun. With open files aimed at the b and c pawns, and also weakening the e pawn I felt I had at least some justification for playing this) 11 dxc4 bxc4 12 Bxc4 Bc6 13 Qe2 Qb6 14 Bd3 Nbd7 15 Nd2 Bb4 16 Nc4 Qb7 17 f3 Qc7 18 f4 Ne8? (Either rook to e8 would've been prudent. Now comes the attack) 19 Nxe5 Nxe5 20 fxe5 Qxe5 21 Bf4 Qc5 22 e5 Nc7 23 Qg4 Ne6 24 Nh5 Kh8 25 Qf5 g6 26 Qf6 check Kg8 27 Qh4? (The knight can safely be taken, presumably my opponent didn't spot my 28th move. Instead, 27 Bh6! Qe7 - 27...Qd5? 28 Nf4! - 28 Qxe7 Bxe7 29 Bxf1 wins an exchange, and black's position is untenable) 27... gxh5 28 Qxh5 f5! 29 Bxf5 Rxf5 (Possibly not necessary, but with 11 moves still to make before the time control, I was keen to swat a few of the wasps buzzing around my king) 30 Qxf5 Nxf4 31 Rxf4 Be8 32 Qe4 Rd8 33 Kh1 Bg6 34 Rg4 Kh8?? (Both of us missing the win under time pressure: 35 Rxg6! hxg6 36 Qh4 check) 35 Qf4? Qb6 36 Qg5 Rd5 37 Rf1 Qe6 38 Qf6 chk Qxf6 39 exf6 Bxc2 40 f7 Bg6?? (Awful, and probably worth three question marks. The obvious 40...Rd8 gives black good opportunities to draw, but with seconds on the clock I hallucinated a mate and blundered away any chance of that) 41 f8=Q chk Bxf8 42 Rxf8 chk Kg7 43 Rf2 Re5 44 h4 Re1 chk 45. Kh2 Rd1 46 h5 (And I resigned. Sigh)

Wellington lose their "Star of India" - 30/11/2010
Alarm bells are ringing at Telepost B and Coddon B who are in danger of becoming adrift at the foot of Division One and are in serious need of chalking up some points. But they can hope for a better second half of the season when some of the teams above them are likely to be significantly weaker. Among them are Wellington A, who this week lose forever their "Star of India" Vikas Sharma who departs any day now for Mumbai, after a period living and working in Telford.
Sharma quickly established himself as the second strongest player in the county and went out with another win, the victim this time being Coddon B's Gary White. Early in the game Coddon spectators came away smiling and muttering that White had played a "Gary move", although in the event his pawn-led attack foundered. Sharma is leaving a legacy in the form of his own website (www.vikasworld.com), which includes many annotated Shropshire league games, latest of which, of course, is that against White.
The game (with Sharma's annotations) went: 1 e4 b6 2 d4 Bb7 3 Bd3 e6 4 Nf3 d6 (4...c5 5 c3 Nf6 6 Qe2 Be7 7 O-O Nc6 8 e5 Nd5 9 dxc5 bxc5 10 c4  is the main line) 5 O-O Nd7 6 Qe2 Be7 7 e5!? dxe5  (7...Bxf3 8 Qxf3 dxe5 9 Bb5 exd4 10 Bxd7 check Kxd7 11 Rd1  with compensation) 8 dxe5 Bxf3 9 gxf3 c6!  (stops Bb5 and h1-a8 diagonal threats. Also, Qc7 is coming next move) 10 Nc3 Qc7 11 Re1 g5 12 Kh1 h5 13 Ne4 g4? (13...Nxe5 14 Bxg5 Ng6 15 Bxe7 N8xe7 16 Nf6 chk Kf8 17 Rad1) 14 Bf4 gxf3? (14...Nc5 15 Nd6 chk Bxd6 16 exd6 Qd7 17 b4  with advantage to white) 15 Qxf3 Nxe5?? (15...Nc5 16 Nd6 chk Bxd6 17 exd6 Qd7 18 Bb5 and white is better) 16 Qg3 f6 17 Qg7 O-O-O 18 Qxh8 Qb7 19 Bxe5 fxe5 20 Qxe5 Nf6 21 Nxf6 and Gary resigned.
Elsewhere Nathanael Paul was left holding his head in his hands when he did the chess equivalent of missing an open goal against a thoroughly outplayed and about-to-resign Toby Neal, and was gutted to agree a draw, which meant that Colin Roberts' win against Munroe Morrison, who under pressure both on the board and on the clock overlooked a one-move mate, decided the match in favour of Wellington.
In a county town derby Telepost B got off to a sparkling start against Shrewsbury A thanks to a win by Phil Zabrocki against David Everington, but hard-fought wins by Jamie Hopkins, Francis Best, and John Parrott, ensured Shrewsbury got all the points.
This is how the Zabrocki-Everington game went, with annotations from Everington: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5!? (The Latvian Gambit, a risky line, but Black has a score of about 80 per cent wins with it over the last six or seven years) 3 Ne5 Nc6!? (Fraser's Variation, dating from the 1870s. White sensibly avoids 4 Qh5 check g6 5 Ng6 Nf6 which is hard to meet without detailed knowledge) 4 Nc6 dc 5 d4 Qh4 6 e5 Be6 7 Be2 O-O-O 8 c3 c5  9 O-O cd 10 g3 Qh3 11 cd Ne7 12 Bf3 Bd5 13 Nc3! Bf3 14 Qf3 Nc6 15 Be3 Nd4 16 Bd4 Rd4 17 Rfd1 Rh4? (Thinking this forces 18 Qg2 Qg2 check 19 Kg2 Rb4 when the pressure is reduced, but...) 18 Qd3!! Qh2 chk 19 Kf1 Qh3 chk 20 Ke1 Re4 chk (The only move, giving up the exchange to survive) 21 Ne4 Qh1 chk 22 Ke2 Qe4 chk  23 Qe4 fe 24 Rd4 and White inevitably wins - and did so on move 38).
Dean Pinnington made his league chess debut in the Division Three encounter between Telepost D and Shifnal & Telford C, and got his personal chess campaign off to a flying start with a win. Also of note was a return of Gordon Lyons to Telepost from Shrewsbury.

County individual championship gets under way - 23/11/2010
One of the most intriguing encounters in the opening round of Shropshire's individual championship was the "Nick v Nat" game which pitted the county's strongest player Nick Rutter against one of the county's most improved players, the teenage Nathanael Paul. Although outclassed on paper, Paul had an excellent run in last season's championship and has shown that he can set top players problems. However the underdog went under in the game. Here it is, with Rutter playing white, and annotations based on those in the tournament bulletin.
1e4 e6 2 d4 d5 (The French Defence, which is popular at all levels) 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bd7 (This bishop is a bit of a problem piece for black in the French, being hemmed in by its own pawns, which explains Paul's manoeuvre to give it some air) 5 Bd3 Bc6 6 Nf3 Nd7 7 O-O Be7!? (The alternative move 7...Ngf6 allows 8 Neg5 which sets a few traps based around Nxf7 or Nxe6) 8 Ne5?! (Better just to play Re1 or Qe2) 8...Bxe4 (8... Nxe5 9 dxe5 Qd4 would give white some problems) 9 Bxe4 c6 10 c3 Ngf6 11 Bc2 O-O 12 Qe2 c5 13 Rd1 (This position is a little difficult for black) 13...Qc7 14 Nxd7 Qxd7 (Worse would be Nxd7 15 d5 and white has too many threats) 15 dxc5 Qc7 16 b4 Nd5 17 Rd3 Bf6 18 Rb1! Nxc3? 19 Rxc3 Bxc3 20 Qd3 g6 21 Qxc3 e5 22 Bb2 f6 23 b5 Rac8 24 Be4 Rfd8 25 c6 Qd6 26 g3 a6 27 Qb3 check Kg7 28 Ba3 Qd4 29 Bf3 axb5 30 c7! (and now Rxc7 and Rd7 both lose to Rd1) 30...Re8 31 Rd1 Qc4 32 Rd7 check Kh6 33 Qxc4 bxc4 34 Bxb7 and Paul resigned.
Rutter will now face Paul's teammate Andy Tunks in the next round, while Paul will take on George Viszokai.
One of the most travelled players in the chess league at the moment is Graham Shepherd, who is playing for his home club of Church Stretton in Division Two, and for Telford-based Coddon in Division One. Although he was not a winner in Stretton's trip to Shrewsbury B, the visitors did come away with both points and now head the second division. Shrewsbury are in a provisional relegation spot but it is early days and, with many of the teams looking on paper to be well matched, things are likely to be tight.

Shrewsbury A look to be title favourites - 16/11/2010
A resurgent Shrewsbury A have underlined their status as one of the title favourites for this season with a victory over reigning league champions Telepost A in the county town derby match. It is difficult to believe that just a year ago Shrewsbury were in a downward spiral and at one point were staring relegation in the face. The return of some strong players after a break, in particular John Parrott, has worked wonders. Their cause was helped by the fact that Telepost were missing Richard Bryant and Keith Tabner.
Shrewsbury's David Everington reports: "The top board game might have been a win to Shrewsbury after a complex struggle, but Shrewsbury's Jamie Hopkins was running out of time to calculate everything and sensibly accepted the draw. "Peter Kitchen's win against Philip Zabrocki in an Advance Variation of the French Defence was a bloodthirsty struggle which needs further analysis to establish what might have happened. "John Bashall, in a difficult ending, secured his draw by giving up his remaining bishop when Francis Best, now a bishop up, had his last pawn on the wrong rook-file to force the win."
Elsewhere Coddon A were missing some regular players when they travelled to Wellington A, and were harshly punished with a 5-0 loss, which does not reflect the closeness of some games. For Wellington it was their first win of the season, and an important one to get under their belt as their star player, Vikas Sharma, who is the second strongest player in the county, returns to India for good at the beginning of December, after a period living and working in Telford. Wellington are likely to struggle to pick up points after his departure.
As feared, the match between Shropshire's open team and Lincolnshire had to be scratched, although not for the lack of anyone to organise it. With Peter Kitchen having stepped down as captain, there has been a void, but in the event Stefan Tennant and Trevor Brotherton tried to rustle up a team for the fixture, being played at a neutral venue in Leicestershire. But they were only able to find 12 available, four short of a full side of 16, which meant it was not worth playing.

County chess stars check in with titles - 09/11/2010
Shropshire chess players have been returning with plunder from various chess tournaments around the country.
The teenager Athar Mehmood, who plays for Newport, took part in the Staffordshire Junior Chess tournament and is now the under-16 Staffordshire champion, for which he got a trophy.
Telepost's John Bashall came away from the Scarborough congress with a cool £500 after winning all five games to take first prize in the Major section, for players graded under 171. Francis Best won the Major last year so that makes it two in a row for Shropshire, and this year his son Matthew Best was joint third in the Foundation section (U106) with 4/5.
A clutch of Shropshire players took part in the Birmingham rapidplay, where among the prizewinners were Vikas Sharma who was joint third in the Open with four points (out of six), Steve Rooney was joint second in the Major (U175) with 4.5/6, and Richard Szwajkun joint third in the Minor with 4.5/6.

On the home front Shropshire's team for players graded under 140 went down to a 7-9 defeat against Staffordshire at Shifnal. Winners were John Westhead, Gary White, Stefan Tennant, Ivor Salter, plus one default, and draws were from Peter Crean, Marvin Carbin, Ian Davies, Andrew Lewis, George Viszokai, and Derrick Powell. But Shropshire's open team is heading for a crisis unless a new captain - or team of people willing to take on the captain's role - is found. Next match against Lincolnshire is due on Saturday and, unless an organiser comes forward, will have to be scratched, meaning an effective end to the open team.
Coddon Chess Club has been the most stable of clubs in terms of venue, but that is about to change with news that the Coddon Sports and Social Club in Donnington is to close on April 2. There was a rumour some while back that the social club might close, so this latest development, although unwelcome, will not have come as a total surprise.

Kitchen bows out in fine style - 19/10/2010
Shropshire open team captain Peter Kitchen bowed out in style in the first match of the season - and his last as captain - against Derbyshire in the Midland Counties Chess Union Minor Championship. The result was a convincing 10.5-5.5 win at Shifnal.
Non-playing captain Kitchen reports: "Despite an unfortunate defeat inside 11 moves for debutant Ben Nickson, a series of wins in the middle and lower order propelled us into an 8-2 lead which we never looked like losing. "It was an important win as it is our only home match of the season, with the remaining three either away or at neutral venues. "This was my last match as open team captain and I'm delighted I was able to go out in style. I would like to thank everyone who has supported the team during my captaincy over the past two-and-a-half years for turning out both home and away.
"I'm stepping down due to increased work commitments but I've thoroughly enjoyed captaining the team, even when we were suffering heavy defeats against the 'giants' of the open championship two years ago. "For the record, Shropshire played seven, won two and lost five under my captaincy. "Importantly, we will need a new captain in place before our next match against Lincolnshire on November 13, be it an individual or a small team of people. Anyone with ideas or interested in taking on the job should contact Shropshire Chess Association president Francis Best."
Shropshire winners were Nigel Ferrington, Jamie Hopkins, Richard Bryant, David Everington, Brian Whyte, Toby Neal, Colin Roberts, John Whittaker and John Westhead, and draws came from Vikas Sharma, Glyn Pugh, and Nathanael Paul.
In the league, Shrewsbury A's good start continued against a shorthanded Newport.
David Everington reports: "Although Nick Rutter salvaged a point with a fascinating good knight vs bad bishop ending against Jamie Hopkins - which went right to the end of the session - Shrewsbury won the other games.  John Parrott's return for the home side brought him a second successive win with a nice sacrificial kingside attack and Francis Best found a neat tactical breakthrough to win against Danny Griffiths' Sokolsky Attack - 1 b4 e5 2 Bb2 Bb4 3 Bxe5."
Vikas Sharma salvaged a point for Wellington A  against reigning league champions Telepost A in what has become his trademark fashion - going into the time scramble with more time on his clock, and then keeping his head.
"I wish I had had another minute," said his defeated opponent Nigel Ferrington ruefully after his flag fell while defending a rook and pawn ending, during which he was having to make moves instantly, while Sharma had enough time left to do some thinking.

Oswestry default makes for low key start - 12/10/2010
Chess action has got under way in Division Two, albeit with an inauspicious start with an immediately defaulted match between two potential promotion candidates  from either end of Shropshire.
Oswestry A are on paper one of the strongest teams in the division, but were on the wrong end of a 5-0 walkover at the hands of Ludlow A. The reason Oswestry defaulted their away encounter isn't immediately known, but a relevant factor may be that Oswestry and Ludlow are geographically the most widely separated clubs in the league. Oswestry are, though, generally good travellers, and it is normally the prospect of a long trip to Oswestry that has a noticeable effect on player availability for visiting teams to the border town.
The indications are that the promotion race could be a tight battle as a number of contenders look quite evenly matched. In a county town derby, Shrewsbury B came away from their trip across town to Telepost C with a 1.5-3.5 win in the bag. With three draws on the bottom three boards it was victories by Norman O'Connor and Mark Smith on the top two boards which carried the day. Shifnal & Telford B opened their campaign with a 4-1 win against visitors Newport B.
Meanwhile, Shropshire's individual championship is soon to start. This gives players a chance to meet opponents - often much stronger opponents - they would never normally meet in league matches. There are cash prizes, including grading prizes for lower-graded players who perform well. Entry details from Nick Rutter (nickrutter777@btinternet.com), who happens to be reigning champion.

The new season kicks off - 28/09/2010
Battle starts tonight (Tuesday) in the Shropshire Chess League with a new season kicking off which, if it is anything like the last nailbiting campaign, should be a cracker.
"Jamie Hopkins will be playing again after a season out, but unfortunately for us it will be with Shrewsbury this time as Tuesdays are not good for him," reports Telepost's Keith Tabner. " And rumour has it that their former top board John Parrot may also come out of retirement. If true that will make our town rivals strong favourites to top the table this season."
"We're fielding an extra team at Telepost this year - though this will probably stretch our resources to the limit. In addition to our two Division One teams and our Division Three team, Matthew Clark will be captaining a new team in Division Two. And we are hoping to see a return by David Adderley, who hasn't played for a couple of years, and also Alan Cliff, who has been out of the game for a considerable period."
Elsewhere Shifnal & Telford's Richard Gillespie, one of Shropshire's most improved players last season, is expected to switch to Wellington, because he's now at college on Shifnal & Telford's Wednesday club night
Church Stretton club has reinstated their regular Thursday club night after the break, for social and casual chess as well as league games.Players will limber up on Thursday (30 Sept) when one of the county's top players, Trevor Brotherton, plays a simul against allcomers at the Church Stretton club. .
On the junior scene, there are going to be a series of monthly tournaments in the Shropshire Junior Chess Grand Prix, all at Trinity School, Ford, on the first Saturday of each month (except December).There will be prizes for each tournament as well as a season-long Grand Prix with special end-of-season prizes. First tournament is on October 2 from 10am to 1pm. Details from Steve Rooney on 01694 723724, at steve.rooney@busandcoach.com, or www.shropshirechessacademy.co.uk