Shropshire’s four teams got off to a flyer with two wins and two draws between them in the opening round of fixtures in the Four Nations Online Chess League. Shropshire & Friends 1 – aided by having grandmaster Keith Arkell on top board – defeated Guildford 1 in division one while Shropshire & Friends 3 beat Trelawny’s Army 3-1 in division two. Further 2-2 draws for the seconds against a strong Morpeth side in division two and the fourths against Watford in division four made for an excellent start to the campaign.
Captain Charles Lowick Higgie described the opening night’s work as a “great start” – and had further reason to be happy as the Sheffield University Graduates team that he organises also drew 2-2 against Wessex E in division three.
The teams, which play matches solely on the internet on Lichess.com, contain a healthy number of Shropshire-based players, aided by a smattering of others from across the country and in some cases across the globe. Players from Turkey and America featured for Shropshire’s first team. Among the local contingent, there were wins for Higgie for the first team, Stephen Priestley (Shrewsbury) for the seconds, Peter Lovatt (Oswestry) and Archie Flavell (Telepost) for the thirds, and for Oswestry duo Stephen Tulett and Alf Evans for the fourths.
Meanwhile, the Shropshire Chess League season was this week getting under way – with this year’s division one title fight looking the most wide open in years. Defending champions Telepost A start their campaign away to Oswestry A hopeful of putting aside the drama of seeing their club split in two earlier in the year. That split has meant Telepost have gone from entering seven teams last year to just one this year, and are likely to have less strength in depth than in previous years. Darwinian Knights is the newly-created club that has emerged from that split – and they have entered four teams across all three divisions including a junior team. Their A team start off with a tough-looking trip to Maddocks A. Their hosts have traumas of their own having lost a number of important players over the summer – but will undoubtedly still remain durable opposition having retained a core of solid and experienced players. Newport A will perhaps fancy their chances of taking advantage of other teams’ struggles – they start with a derby of sorts away to Telford A.
There won’t be long to wait for some more tasty derbies – Telepost A host their former clubmates Darwinian Knights A on October 2 before hosting Shrewsbury A as they travel down Wyle Cop for their traditional county town derby seven days later.
Fixtures were also taking place this week in division three. Darwinian Knights C and Newport B will face their club’s respective junior teams, while Shrewsbury B will host Telford C.
There has been a reduction in the number of teams entered this season – division three has been reduced from nine teams to six, while division two has retained six teams. Fixtures in the second tier will start next week.