Wednesday 16 December 2009

League update

Church Stretton have finished the first half of the season with 7 points from 6 six games, ending up in in tiop half Many thanks to everyone who has played in the team so far and best wishes to David Williams who is still recovering from a broken leg and we hope to see him back in the new year!

The other teams in the division still have a game to go but we should end up in the top four to date - still with a chance of promotion.

Here are the rest of the results so far.

Church Stretton v Telepost B 2.5 - 2.5
S Rooney 0.5, J Westhead 0.5
G Shepherd 0.5, J Bashall 0.5
E Elwell 0, P Crean 1
F Roooney 0.5, S Kempsell 0.5
T Williamson 1, V Crean 0.

Church Stretton v Newport B 3.5 - 1.5
S Rooney 1, A Tunks 0
A Thorpe 0, S Cooper 1
F Rooney 1, S Davies 0
T Williamson 1, P Broderick 0
C Pimm Jones 0.5, D Lovegrove 0.5.

Shifnal & Telford C v Church Stretton A 4 - 1
W Peck 0, S Rooney 1
J Kenderdine 1, G Link 0
R Gillespie 1, G Shepherd 0
A Carr 1, C Pimm-Jones 0
T Skidmore 1, Default 0.

Monday 26 October 2009

Another league win for Church Stretton

Church Stretton's second successive win in division 2 cam against Shrewsbury B last Friday.

The match got off to a good start with Steve Rooney's 14-move win against Mark Smith on board one. Chris Pimm Jones got a good draw against Ivor Salter on board five and then boards four went to Shrewsbury and three to Church Stretton's Graham Shepherd.

The final game to finish was Gerald Link's clash on board two against Norman O Connor. The Stretton palyer looked comfortable and was ahead on the clock but overlooked a tactic and lost queen for rook but with just minutes left Norman O Connor decided to play safe and take a draw by repeated checks rather than risk a time scramble.

Shrewsbury B v Church Stretton 2 - 3

M Smith 0, S Rooney 1;
N O Connor 0.5, G Link 0.5;
A Lewis 0, G Shepherd 1;
D Lockett 1, A Thorpe 0;
I Salter 0.5, C Pimm Jones 0.5.

Saturday 10 October 2009

First home match of season brings a win

Church Stretton's first home match resulted in a 4-1 win against neighbours Ludlow.


The visitors only had four players so Francis Rooney chalked up a default on board five straight away. This was followed in just a few minutes by Gerald Link who won in just a dozen moves following his opponent's blunder in the opening. Karl Wakefield on board two was well ahead for most of his game but threw away a knight in the ending and had to hold on for a draw. With the match looking secure, Graham Shepherd agreed a draw in his opposite bishop's ending, leaving Steve Rooney to grind out a win on board one.


Church Stretton 4-1 Ludlow
Steve Rooney 1, B Nickson 0
Karl Wakefield 0.5, R Woodley 0.5
Gerald Link 1, R Tapley 0
Graham Shepherd 0.5, AD Wright 0.5
Francis Rooney 1, Default 0.

Monday 28 September 2009

Season gets underway for Church Stretton

With just one team being fielded by the club this season, the first match ended in a narrow defeat away at Coddon B.

On board two, Gerald Link looked to have an advantage but his 17 year old opponent Nathanael Paul managed to hold him off for the draw. Chris Pimm Jones lost a vital couple of pawns to Alan Shaw on board five and eventually lost. Then another of Coddon's juniors, Peter Mellor held off an attack from Church Stretton board 3 Adrian Thorpe to clinch a draw leaving the two Rooneys to finish.

Francis Rooney, on board four, had fended off a strong king side attack from his opponent and managed to get to an endgame with a couple of pawns for a piece, but his open king position eventually led to the loss of another piece and he promptly resigned. On board one Steve Rooney felt a little guilty about keeping the team there while he ground out a win against Shropshire league newcomer Marvin Carbin. Rooney had a positional advantage from early in the game and after a lengthy battle managed to convert this into a two-pawn advantage and then with a further piece about to fall his opponent resigned.

The Church Stretton club would be delighted to welcome new members who live in the area and who want to play either league or casual chess. The club meets on Thursdays at the town's District Club in Essex Road, for more information call Steve Rooney on 01694 723724.


Coddon B v Church Stretton
M Carbin 0-1 Steve Rooney
N Paul 0.5-0.5 G Link
P Mellor 0.5-0.5 A Thorpe
G Viszokai 1-0 F Rooney
A Shaw 1-0 C Pimm Jones

Friday 28 August 2009

League seasons starts 23 September

The Shropshire league season for Church Stretton kicks off on 23 September with an away match for the A team against Coddon B in division 2.

Regrettably it has been decided that it is not possible to run a B team this season as there are not enough players available. We will however try to run more club nights on Thursdays to give more opportunities for casual chess. Please feel free to turn up on Thursdays to join us.

Sunday 15 March 2009

A team destined for Div 2

Church Stretton A's hopes of surviving in division 1 appear to have disappeared this week as the team went down 4-1 away to Newport A and fellow-strugglers Telepost B chalked up a win to move further away from the relegation zone. Church Stretton's sole winner at Newport was Gerald Lnk who chalked up a fne win against Tony Holdford.

Newport A 4-1 Church Stretton A
Nick Rutter 1-0 Steve Rooney
Tony Holdford 0-1 Gerald Link
Alex Taylor 1-0 Graham Shepherd
Danny Griffiths 1-0 John Whittaker
Ahtar Mehmood 1-0 Francis Rooney

Monday 2 March 2009

Church Stretton A v Shrewsbury A

Church Stretton's visit to Shrewsbury A ended in a 4-1 defeat with good draws for Steve Rooney and Tom Williamson the only consolation. The next match against Newport a could prove to be vital as Church Stretton need something from that match to avoid relegation.

Shrewsbury A 4-1 Church Stretton A
P Makepeace 0.5-0.5 S Rooney
D Everington 1-0 G Link
F Best 1-0 G Shepherd
R Cox 1-0 J Whittaker
I Davies 0.5-0.5 T Williamson

Monday 23 February 2009

B team back on winning trail

The B team won their league match on Thursday 3-2 against Shifnal Telepost C. Wins for Adrian Thorpe and Francis Rooney and draws for Chris Pimm Jones and Tom Williamson clinched the match.

Church Stretton B 3-2 Shifnal Telford C
D Williams 0-1 R Gillespie
A Thorpe 1-0 R Brown
T Williamson 0.5-0.5 P Broderick
C Pimm Jones 0-5-05 T Skidmore
F Rooney 1-0 N Donaldson

Friday 13 February 2009

B team hold Newport while A team lose to Telepost

Two matches this week at Church Stretton club. The B team drew against Newport B in their rearranged fixture while the A team went down 3.5-1.5 to title-hopefuls Telepost A.

In the B team match it was the juniors who excelled. For Newport B, Alex Taylor launched a ferocious attack against David Williams on top board and clinched the point, while for Church Stretton B there were good wins for Francis Rooney and Chris Lovejoy on boards four and five. Adrian Thorpe drew a tight game with Steve Cooper on board two and Chris Pimm Jones got into a very tangled position with very little space for his piecs and eventually succumbed to Dave Lovegrove. At the end of the evening the match was sitting at 2.5-1.5 in Newport's favour with Chris Lovejoy's game the last to finish. Chris was behind on time for much of the game but once he created a strong extra passed pawn his opponent Steve Szwajkun was forced to use up a lot of his time. In the end, Chris calmly forced his opponent into further errors and was a rook ahead when he won on time securing the draw for the home side.

The A team were less fortunate but against Telepost's strongest team they did pretty well to get three draws. The first two games went to Telepost with Graham Shepherd losing to Richard Bryant and Karl Wakefield resigning to Nigel Ferrington. John Whittaker then drew with Keith Tabner on board five in a queen and pawn ending and Steve Rooney held county champion Jamie Hopkins to a draw on board one. Gerald Link on board three had been a knight for two pawns down for a long time but eventually managed to hold Dave Bates to a draw.


Church Stretton B 2.5-2.5 Newport B
D Williams 0-1 A Taylor
A Thorpe 0.5-0.5 S Cooper
C Pimm Jones 0-1 D Lovegrove
F Rooney 1-0 R Szwajkun
C Lovejoy 1-0 S Szwajkun


Church Stretton A 1.5-3.5 Telepost A
S Rooney 0-5-0.5 J Hopkins
K Wakefield 0-1 N Ferrington
G Link 0.5-0.5 D Bates
G Shepherd 0-1 R Bryant
J Whittaker 0.5-0.5 K Tabner

Wednesday 28 January 2009

New date for B team match

The B team's home match against Newport B scheduled this Thursday has been postponed. The new date for the fixture is Thu 12 Feb.

Monday 26 January 2009

A team lose at Coddon

Coddon A managed to squeeze out a victory against Church Stretton A when the final two games went 1.5-0.5 in the home team's favour. Gerald Link won the tactical battle in his game against Gary White and Graham Shepherd agreed a draw against Andy Tunks after he had serious pressure but no obvious way to convert it into a win. John Whittaker was undone by some aggressive play by John Tunks, and Francis Rooney had a sound drawing position against fellow junior Nathanael Paul but overpressed and lost the point. Steve Rooney needed a win on board one to get the draw but despite turning down an earlier draw had to concede the half point with both players short of time in a B v N ending.


Coddon A 3-2 Church Stretton A
G Pugh 0.5-0.5 S Rooney
G White 0-1 G Link
A Tunks 0.5-0.5 G Shepherd
J Tunks 1-0 J Whittaker
N Paul 1-0 F Rooney

Monday 19 January 2009

B team pipped at post by Ludlow

The B team lost narrowly to Ludlow last week with the match decided on the top board. David Williams resigned against Ludlow's John Whittaker in a position that John still felt had some play, but David's attack had petered out and he was going a piece down for a couple of pawns. Francis Rooney won in a rook and pawn ending by constructing a cheaky mating trap and Chris Pimm Jones and Adrian Thorpe both drew.

Ludlow a 3-2 Church Stretton B
J Whittaker 1-0 D Williams
R Woodley 0-5-0.5 A thorpe
J Preece 1-0 T Williamson
P Munday 0.5-0.5 C Pimm Jones
K Thompson 0-1 F Rooney

Friday 9 January 2009

Church Stretton A v Shifnal Telford A

A late default meant that the A team was one short for its match this week against Shifnal & Telford. The visitors were short of two of their first team but still managed to win three out of four of the games.

Church Stretton A 0.5-4.5 Shifnal & Telford A
K Wakefield 0-1 T Brotherton
S Rooney 0.5-0.5 C Roberts
G Shepherd 0-1 I Wilson
J Whittaker 0-1 S Tennant
default 0-1 G Lee