Rising youngster Daniel Hilditch-Love has underlined his potential as a Shropshire chess star of the future by winning the county’s minor individual championship.
The Newport junior beat Nick Holmes in the seventh and final round to end on 5.5 points, made up of four wins and three draws. With a grading of 105, he outshone a number of higher graded competitors in the tournament, which is for players with a grading of 125 or below – roughly B and C team standard. Because of the coronavirus pandemic putting paid to over-the-board chess, the final rounds were played online.
Meanwhile Telepost’s Nigel Ferrington (pictured above) has been presented with the inaugural Colin Roberts Memorial Trophy, awarded for the best game by any Shropshire player over the season. There was a question mark over whether it would be awarded again this season, as for the foreseeable future all competitive chess will necessarily have to be over the internet and the trophy was not intended for internet chess. However, when views were canvassed at last month’s special Shropshire Chess Association Zoom meeting, a vote was overwhelmingly in favour of running the event again in the 2020-21 season.
