Winning start for Church Stretton

A 5-0 victory away against Newport B got us off to a great start in our first match of the season.

Gerald Link was first to take a point, confidently rebutting Dave Lovegrove's ambitious opening (1.e4 c5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5) then winning a central pawn followed by a piece before forcing resignation when about to win a queen and mate.

Graham Shepherd followed after overpowering Richard Szwajkun and Richard's dad Steve was beaten by Tom Williamson after dropping a piece in an ending that was probably winning for Tom anyway. Francis Rooney calmly absorbed a lot of pressure and pounced on a couple of fatal blunders in his match against newcomer Willie Gormley. Finally Steve Rooney made it a clean sweep when his attack on Steve Cooper's king finally forced resignation in response to a horrible pin and mating threats.

Next match is home to Oswestry A on 4 November.

Successful simul

Many thanks to Trevor Brotherton for taking on nine Church Stretton players in a simul at the club last week.

As expected, Trevor scored very well, conceding just two draws against Graham Shepherd and Steve Rooney. However Trevor admitted that he had to work hard to win on the other seven boards, especially against Mary Whittle who mounted a sharp attack on Trevor's king which really got him thinking.

Many thanks to all those who took part and especially Trevor.