There's no change at the top of Division One of Shropshire Chess League after the latest round of matches played online. Shrewsbury-based Telepost remain clear by a single point after a victory over Oswestry A, but Newport are breathing down their necks and maintaining the pressure after their win over Maddocks A.

Even strong players can make simple mistakes, and Newport's Nick Rutter benefited on top board when opponent Dave Gostelow, playing an opening he knows well and in a position which was still "book" – that is, played before and an established opening line – overlooked that a rook was under attack, resulting in the proverbial early bath after just 15 moves.

In Division Two both leaders Newport B and second placed Wellington A drew, with Shrewsbury's Peter Kitchen methodically pressing home an advantage against Wellington's Andy Grillage on top board to salvage a point for the county town side, while in the Oswestry B v Newport B encounter all the games were drawn, although not without some titanic scraps and dramatic escapes.

RESULTS: Division One – Maddocks A 1.5, Newport A 2.5: D Gostelow 0, N Rutter 1; G Pugh 0.5, C Portman 0.5; S Maydew 1, N Clarke 0; T Preece 0, I Jamieson 1.
Oswestry A 0.5, Telepost A 3.5: B Whyte 0, N Paul 1; M Altinsoy 0, P Zabrocki 1; T McMahon 0, R Archer 1; L Cox 0.5, M Clark 0.5.

Division Two – Telepost C 1, Telepost B 2: R Nield 0, S Rooney 1; N Holmes 0, K Walker 1; D Bonner 1, J Westhead 0.
Wellington A 1.5, Shrewsbury B 1.5: A Grillage 0, P Kitchen 1; T Faustino 0.5, M Smith 0.5; M Podlesak 1, M Best 0.
Oswestry B 1.5, Newport B 1.5: C Lowick Higgie 0.5, C Lewis 0.5; A Bailey 0.5, D Hilditch-Love 0.5; P Fisher 0.5, S Greenwood 0.5.

Division Three – Newport C 1.5, Shrewsbury D 1.5: D Lovegrove 1, N O'Connor 0; W Gormley 0, J Birch 1; M Price 0.5, A Pritchard 0.5.
Telepost D 0, Shrewsbury C 3: S Sweeney 0, P Kitchen 1; J Holyhead 0, D Lockett 1; J Casewell 0, I Salter 1.
Oswestry C 2.5, Telepost E 0.5: K Grice 0.5, P Crean 0.5; S Tulett 1, N Holmes 0; J Smith 1, M Ayres 0.

Another win for Newport B has seen them extend their lead to three points at the top of Division Two in Shropshire Chess League.

Newport have now won six matches on the trot with the latest to fall to their firepower being Telepost B. With all games now played online using the Lichess chess platform, spectators are able to watch from their homes in real time as the games unfold – providing they know the Lichess usernames to search under, which are posted on the Shropshire chess website. And the platform also offers revealing post-game computer analysis, so although the 3-0 scoreline looks emphatic, the computer assessments show that defeated Steve Rooney, Kate Walker and John Westhead all had stages in the game when things looked promising for them.

Wellington A are currently the only other team within touching distance of the leaders, with in joint third place Shrewsbury B and Telford A who are both six points adrift despite wins in the latest round of online fixtures.

RESULTS: Division Two – Telepost B 0, Newport B 3: S Rooney 0, C Lewis 1; K Walker 0, D Hilditch-Love 1; J Westhead 0, S Greenwood 1.
Telford A 2.5, Oswestry 0.5: G Kolbusz 0.5, C Lowick Higgie 0.5; J Pico Ruiz 1, A Bailey 0; R Brown 1, P Fisher 0.
Shrewsbury B 2, Telepost C 1: M Smith 0, R Nield 1; M Best 1, N Holmes 0; J Wilkinson 1, D Bonner 0.

The pace has picked up on the Shropshire chess scene with the launch of the county's rapidplay league using an innovative new format.

Before coronavirus called a halt to face-to-face chess, games in the rapidplay league were played with a time limit of 20 minutes, but with the competition moving online players get just three minutes each, plus an extra two seconds for every move made. And apart from that blitz time limit, an "arena" format is being used in which the teams enter a pool of players, and during two hours of hectic chess action in which many games are played they are repeatedly paired against opponents from other teams. When the dust settles it is only the scores of the teams' five highest scoring players that count.

After the first round a very strong team which goes as Mad Wolves, a mix of players from the Oakengates-based Maddocks chess club, and from wider afield including Wolverhampton, heads the league table, with Telepost Dark Knights – the rapidplay incarnation of the Shrewsbury-based Telepost chess club – in second place.

In the "normal" league, a top-of-the-table clash between Newport A and Telepost A saw honours shared, which sees Telepost continue to head Division One by a single point.

RESULTS: Division One – Newport A 2, Telepost A 2: N Rutter 0, N Paul 1; G Cooper 1, N Ferrington 0; C Portman 0, R Archer 1; A Taylor 1, M Clark 0.
Shrewsbury A 1.5, Maddocks A 2.5: F Best 0, D Gostelow 1; P Kitchen 1, G Pugh 0; T Eales 0.5, S Tarr 0.5; D Lockett 0, S Maydew 1.
Division Two – Newport B 3, Telford A 0: C Lewis 1, J Pico Ruiz 0; D Hilditch-Love 1, R Brown 0; S Greenwood 1, R Thompson 0.
Oswestry B 0, Wellington A 3: P Lovatt 0, A Grillage 1; A Bailey 0, T Faustino 1; P Fisher 0, M Podlesak 1.
Shrewsbury B 2, Telepost B 1: M Smith 1, K Walker 0; M Best 1, J Westhead 0; J Wilkinson 0, K Tabner 1.

Shropshire's top woman chess player Kate Walker reached the women's finals of the British Chess Championships, battling top opponents in an online tournament in which some games had a live commentary by a Grandmaster.

Kate, who plays for the Shrewsbury-based Telepost club, became one of 12 English players to make it to the finals after the qualifying rounds, and then faced seven gruelling games in the finals themselves. Anti-cheating protocols were so strict that women with long hair were asked to pull it back to check they were not secretly wearing headphones, and if players needed the toilet they had to notify the arbiter.

She ended up with a score of two from the seven games. "I was slightly disappointed with my performance in the women’s final as I felt I generally played well but I came across some very strong female players and I learnt a lot from them," said Kate, who also played in the section for players with a rating of under 2000 – a strong standard – and in that scored four points out of seven.

Meanwhile Kate has raised the plight of a cafe in Shrewsbury which has been a venue for social chess. "The Nerdy Coffee Co. Cafe has been flooded for the third time in a year and they are crowd funding to stay in business during this tough time. They have been particularly supportive to Shropshire chess," she said.

LEAGUE RESULTS: Division Three - Telepost D 3, Newport C 0: S Sweeney 1, D Lovegrove 0; J Holyhead 1, W Gormley 0; J Casewell 1, M Price 0.
Telepost E 1, Shrewsbury C 2: W Clarke 0, D Lockett 1; M Ayres 1, J Wilkinson 0; M Randell 0, 1 Salter 1.
Shrewsbury D 2.5, Oswestry C 0.5: I Salter 1, K Grice 0; J Birch 1, S Tulett 0; A Purser 0.5, A Evans 0.5.


Read more about Kate's British Championships experience here - ed

A Shropshire chess player has been banned for the rest of the season after an anti-cheating probe found that he had been playing better than many grandmasters. Suspicions were aroused by his stellar performance in this month’s Shropshire online team quickplay competition in which his spectacular run included beating much stronger local players. An investigation by online chess platform Lichess into those games and several others played online - a total of 13 - detected the hand of computer assistance and Lichess suspended his account.

Now a special committee of Shropshire Chess Association officials has invoked the local rule that any player whose account is suspended by Lichess will be banned from online chess for the rest of the season and all games already played will be counted as losses. The player, who has not been named, is maintaining his innocence and has a right of appeal.

With the pandemic ruling out face-to-face chess, all competitive chess is now being played over the internet, which is inherently more difficult to police, but special software can catch out offenders who consistently play with “inhuman” levels of accuracy.

In a statement, association president Matthew Clark said: “Shropshire Chess Association reminds all players that use of electronic assistance in any online competitive match is unacceptable and that strong measures are in place to deter such a breach of the rules. The rules will be rigorously applied in the event of any further incidents.”

LEAGUE RESULTS: Division One - Oswestry A 1.5, Newport A 2.5: B Whyte 0, N Rutter 1; M Altinsoy 0, G Cooper 1; T McMahon 1, N Clarke 0; L Cox 0.5, C Lewis 0.5.
Shrewsbury A 0.5, Telepost A 3.5: F Best 0, N Paul 1; M Smith 0, P Zabrocki 1; D Lockett 0, R Archer 1; J Wilkinson 0, M Clark 0.5.

Division Two - Telepost B 0.5, Telford A 2.5: K Walker 0, G Kolbusz 1; J Westhead 0, J Pico Ruiz 1; K Tabner 0.5, R Thompson 0.5.
Wellington A 1, Newport B 2: A Grillage 0, D Hilditch-Love 1; T Faustino 0, S Greenwood 1; M Podlesak 1, A Jones 0.
Oswestry B 2.5, Telepost C 0.5: C Lowick Higgie 1, R Nield 0; P Lovatt 1, N Holmes 0; P Fisher 0.5, D Bonner 0.5.

A very strong Newport outfit held off a powerful challenge from Shrewsbury-based Telepost to win an innovative New Year quickplay chess tournament played entirely over the internet. While Newport fielded real heavy artillery with International Master Lawrence Cooper on top board, and Gavyn Cooper on board two, Telepost countered with Nigel Ferrington – who is not a fan of online chess – and county champion Nat Paul.

With face-to-face chess currently out of the question, the tournament organised by Chris Lewis was both in effect a delayed version of last summer's cancelled quickplay event, and a fun replacement for the Shropshire Chess Congress which would normally have been held at this time. Lewis said: "It was a fantastic day and it was great to see online chess in Shropshire continue to receive such strong support. Covid has not slowed us down. Every match felt intense with so many close games and nailbiting match results.

"There were some real upsets throughout the day and a special shoutout to Shane Greenwood for beating Nigel Ferrington not just once but twice, a truly tremendous achievement. Congratulations to all who took part, commiserations to Telepost who put in a great performance throughout the day and deservedly topped the initial league table and well done to Newport for their eventual hard-fought victory in the knock-out rounds."

The final could not have been closer, with a 3-2 win for Newport. Individual results were: Lawrence Cooper 0.5, Nigel Ferrington 0.5; Gavyn Cooper 1, Nat Paul 0; Neil Clarke 0.5, Phil Zabrocki 0.5; Christopher Lewis 0, Richard Archer 1; Dan Hilditch-Love 1, Kate Walker 0.

Beating Shrewsbury in the 3rd/4th place playoff were Mad Wellies, a combined team of players from the Maddocks and Wellington clubs.

Full results here - ed

As Shropshire chess enters the Christmas break, Shrewsbury-based Telepost A are the early league leaders despite being without their strongest player, Nigel Ferrington.

For obvious reasons the league is having to be played as an online event this season, and Ferrington is one of those players who doesn’t care for playing over the internet. However, Telepost have benefited from the arrival of a very strong substitute, Nathanael Paul, the county champion who has switched from the Newport club.

Sharing top spot in Division Two are Telepost B and Wellington A, who met each other in the latest round of matches. One feature of internet chess is that spectators can watch the games being played live on the Lichess chess platform, so long as they have the players’ usernames (which are published on the Shropshire chess website) to search under, so watchers were able to see those two teams go level on 1-1 with all to play for on the bottom board - it’s three per team in Division Two. Things were looking good for Wellington as Mark Podlesak was a piece up against John Westhead, but Westhead was alert when an opportunity arose to turn things around and in the end a draw was the result, which also meant the match result saw honours shared.

RESULTS Division One - Maddocks A 2, Telepost A 2: A Zdanowski 0.5, N Paul 0.5; D Gostelow 0.5, P Zabrocki 0.5; G Pugh 0, R Archer 1; S Maydew 1, M Nightall 0.
Oswestry A 2.5, Shrewsbury A 1.5: B Whyte 1, T Eales 0, default 0, O Ilesanmi 1; T McMahon 0.5, F Best 0.5; L Cox 1, D Lockett 0.
Division Two - Telepost B 1.5, Wellington A 1.5: P Officer 0, A Grillage 1; K Walker 1, T Faustino 0; J Westhead 0.5, M Podlesak 0.5.
Telepost C 0, Telford A 3: R Nield 0, G Kolbusz 1; N Holmes 0, R Brown 1; D Bonner 0, R Thompson 1.
Newport B 3, Shrewsbury B 0: C Lewis 1, D Lockett 0; D Hilditch-Love 1, I Salter 0; S Greenwood 1, J Birch 0.

Any thoughts that Shropshire’s first online chess league season might see a dip in the intensity of the competition have proven far from the case, the annual meeting of the county’s chess association has heard. In the first opportunity to review how the new league is going, with face-to-face chess being ruled out, it is apparent that the season is proving very competitive, and players are taking internet chess seriously. Although some local players are giving it a miss as playing online is not to everybody’s taste, that has been counterbalanced by an influx of other players taking advantage of the switch to the internet, the meeting held on Zoom heard.

However, with only 45 per cent of players nationally renewing their membership of the English Chess Federation, a reminder is going out that Shropshire players are required to be in the ECF to play in the new league, which means their games will both be rated and monitored by anti-cheating software on the Lichess internet chess platform. The basic ECF sub is £10.

To nobody’s surprise Shropshire’s biggest chess event, the annual congress held in January, will not take place in the New Year. There is a longer term question mark over whether future events will be able to use the venue at the Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford, both because the offices have been reconfigured and also because one of the congress organisers, Francis Best, has retired from his top post with the trust.

Last summer’s team quickplay tournament was a victim of the pandemic and now Newport’s Chris Lewis is organising it as a delayed event for the winter, to be held online on January 10. And reigning county individual champion Nathanael Paul will be challenging allcomers in a Christmas event online on Wednesday, December 16. Nat will be playing a host of challengers in games played simultaneously.

RESULTS Division Two – Wellington A 2.5, Telepost C 0.5: A Grillage 1, R Nield 0; T Faustino 1, N Holmes 0; M Podlesak 0.5, D Bonner 0.5.
Oswestry B 1, Telepost B 2: P Lovatt 1, K Walker 0; A Bailey 0, J Westhead 1; P Fisher 0, J Holyhead 1.

Oswestry have put down a marker for the new Shropshire chess league season by inflicting a rare defeat over reigning champions Newport A.

The new online format has particular advantages for the border town club as, with most of the county teams being in the Shrewsbury and Telford areas, it makes irrelevant any issues involved with travelling to distant venues. The upshot is that it has in effect expanded the pool of players Oswestry can field. In fact a number of sides in this season's league have unfamiliar line-ups thanks to this factor, that players do not need to live near club venues in order to play for that club.

Internet games are being played on the Lichess online platform, and the publication of players' Lichess usernames on the Shropshire chess website (www.shropshirechess.org) means that spectators from across the county – and indeed across the world – can input the names to watch games live as they are played. And in another twist, there is a "spectator room" on which people watching can discuss the action.

Shropshire Chess Association's annual meeting, which is held in the summer in normal circumstances, is being held on Zoom on Thursday December 10 at 7.30pm with normal reports and so on, and it will be an early chance too to get some feedback on how things are going in this most unusual of new chess seasons.

RESULTS Division One – Shrewsbury A 0.5, Telepost A 3.5: H Birch 0, N Paul 1; T Eales 0, P Zabrocki 1; F Best 0, R Archer 1; P Kitchen 0.5, M Clark 0.5.
Oswestry A 3, Newport A 1: M Altinsoy 0.5, C Portman 0.5; T McMahon 0.5, N Clarke 0.5; C Lowick Higgie 1, C Lewis 0; L Cox 1, D Hilditch-Love 0.
Division Three – Oswestry C 2.5, Newport C 0.5: K Grice 1, D Lovegrove 0; J Smith 1, M Price 0; A Evans 0.5, M Moore 0.5.
Shrewsbury C 2.5, Shrewsbury D 0.5: D Lockett 0.5, N O'Connor 0.5; S Priestley 1, J Birch 0; J Wilkinson 1, A Purser 0.

Shropshire’s historic first ever internet chess league season is under way, bringing in a new format, some new players, and some new problems for contestants to contend with.

Online games mean it is possible for players to take part from their homes literally anywhere - including abroad - which has opened up new opportunities for clubs. For instance, among those joining the fray are Carl Portman, who was a key part of the all-conquering Coddon team of yesteryear before moving from Shropshire and has since led a project to popularise chess in prisons.

The flip side is that a number of regular Shropshire players are absent from line-ups because they don’t like playing chess online, or alternatively don’t like the time limit, which is roughly half that of over-the-board chess, which is too fast for one or two, although not fast enough for some others. Mouse control also comes into the equation, with at least one of the opening games seemingly decided by a slip of the mouse.

Matches are being played on the Lichess chess platform, which means it is possible to watch games online if you know the players’ user names.

In the initial Division One fixtures Telepost A and Newport A ran out winners. In the top flight teams are of four, but in the other divisions they are of three, and in the first round of matches there Telepost B, Newport B, and Wellington A were winners.

The online season’s first Division Three matches were being played this week.

RESULTS Division One - Telepost A 3, Oswestry A 1: N Paul 1, B Whyte 0; P Zabrocki 1, M Altinsoy 0; R Archer 1, T McMahon 0; M Nightall 0, L Cox 1.
Newport A 3, Maddocks A 1: N Rutter 1, D Gostelow 0; C Portman 0.5, G Pugh 0.5; N Clarke 0.5, S Maydew 0.5; A Taylor 1, S Tarr 0.
Division Two – Telepost B 2.5, Telepost C 0.5: P Officer 1, R Nield 0; K Walker 1, N Holmes 0; J Westhead 0.5, D Bonner 0.5.
Newport B 2, Oswestry B 1: C Lewis 1, P Lovatt 0; D Hilditch-Love 1, A Bailey 0; A Jones 0, P Fisher 1.
Shrewsbury B 1, Wellington A 2: H Birch 0, A Grillage 1; P Kitchen 1, T Faustino 0; M Best 0, M Podlesak 1.

Shropshire chess has moved into historic new territory with the launch this week of the county's first online league season – with the wonders of the internet meaning players will be taking part from as far away as Paris.

With face-to-face chess still a distant prospect, the new league will take the place of the "normal" county league and be based on existing teams, while at the same time being very different. Some stalwarts will be missing because not everyone likes playing chess online, and among those who do, most prefer not to play long matches.

The upshot is that the time control is much faster than in the regular over-the-board league. And as they will be playing in the comfort of their own homes rather than having to travel to a chess club venue, it opens the door for teams to field players from far and wide.

Veteran Telepost Chess Club member John Casewell made contact with Bill Clarke, the original founder of the club, who is in his 80s now and lives in the French capital. Bill has rejoined the club after 25 years' absence and will be playing in the online league from his Paris home. "John Casewell’s invitation for me to rejoin the club a few weeks ago came out of the blue and it didn’t take much thought to agree. I was absolutely delighted of course, even at my old age. Ironically without Covid it would not have been possible and this has led to the explosion of online chess," he says.

Meanwhile inter-county games are also being played online. Shropshire lost 8-4 in the latest encounter against Worcestershire. For Shropshire, there were wins for Chris Lewis and James Holyhead, and draws for Nat Paul, Phil Zabrocki, Andy Grillage, and Robert Nield.

You can read more of Bill Clarke's reflections here (ed.)

League chess action is to resume in Shropshire after a special meeting on Zoom for players and club secretaries agreed the rules and format of a new online league.

With a resumption of face-to-face chess a distant prospect, the new league will be started from scratch and will be entirely separate from the traditional league structure, but will still play for trophies. About half of the county's players have expressed an interest in playing online – playing over the internet is not to everybody's taste. Teams will be of four players in Division One, and of three in other divisions. With many players saying they lose concentration if internet games go on too long, the time controls in the new league will be 45 minutes to complete the game, with an extra 15 seconds added for every move made.

Among other developments Francis Best stepped down as Shropshire Chess Association president, and is succeeded by Matthew Clark, who in turn has been succeeded as general secretary by Nick Holmes. Nick has also taken over as editor of Shropshire chess' webpage, from which Keith Tabner has stepped down after 17 years.

After some debate it was agreed that the Shropshire individual championship should be run online as well, despite a statement being read by Wellington player Eugene Raby who said it was too prestigious to be run online, nobody should be crowned Shropshire champion without having played a single over-the-board game, and the competition should remain "untarnished and respected".

Nat king of county in historic championship - 06/09/20