On top of Division 2

... for a while at least

Church Stretton have finished the first part of the season with 3 wins and 2 draws from 5 matches and are currently in first place in Division 2, although second-placed Ludlow have a game in hand.

The policy this season has been to rotate players from our squad to try and give everyone a game which is good for the long term health of the club. In fact "resting" some of our players doesn't seem to have affected our results too much either with some great performances on all boards.

Notable individual scores include Chris Pimm Jones and Francis Rooney who both have 2 wins and a draw from three games, and Graham Shepherd with 2 wins and a draw from four games. Tom Williamson, Gerald Link and Adrian Thorpe all have 50 per cent records with 1 win and a draw from three games and newcomer this season Dean Pinnington has a 100 per cent record with a win in his debut against Telepost C. Captain Steve Rooney is also on 100 per cent with 3 wins from 3 games and Eric Elwel has one draw from one game played. And of course not forgetting Gordon Lyon who stepped in to play for Church Stretton when bad weather meant we were a player short at Telepost C, by kind permission of Telepost, he held his own for most of his board four match but unfortunately lost out in the end.

Remember that the regular club night on Thursdays has been reinstated this season and we look forward to seeing many of you there in the New Year.

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.

Trevor to take on allcomers

One of the county's top players Trevor Brotherton is to take on allcomers at Church Stretton chess club next Thursday 30 September in a simultaneous match.

Trevor is graded well above any of his likely contenders at Church Stretton but hopefully some of the locals will put up a bit of a fight!

New members are very welcome at the club's regular Thursday night chess session at the District Club, Essex Road, Church Stretton, from 7.30pm.

New season fixtures

The fixtures for 2010-11 season have now been published - see details on right hand panel.

We are only running one team again this year but this means there is plenty of opportunity to get along to the club for our new regular club night on Thursdays. See you there.

Regular club night on Thursdays

Come and play casual chess at Church Stretton Chess Club. We are now meeting regularly on Thursdays from 7.30pm at the District Club, Esses Road. 

The club runs teams in the Shropshire league and welcomes visitors and new members. We are now meeting each week for casual chess fun up to the school summer holidays  and then weekly again from September.

If you can play chess at any level, or would like to learn, please just turn up on a Thursday.

Church Stretton ended the season in third slot in Division 2, just behind the second promotion slot on points difference to Coddon B.

Individual performances included Steve Rooney 8.5/10, Graham Shepherd 6/9, Gerald Link 5/7 and Francis Rooney 4.5/8

Results for the second half of the season below:

Church Stretton v Shrewsbury B 2 - 3

G Link 1, A Lewis 0

G Shepherd 1, I Davies 0

D Williams 0, D Lockett 1

T Williamson 0, I Salter 1

F Rooney 0, M Best 1.

Telepost B v Church Stretton 4.5 - 0.5

J Westhead 0.5, S Rooney 0.5

P Zabrocki 1, G Shepherd 0

R Simpson 1, F Rooney 0

P Crean 1, Default 0

S Kempsell 1, C Pimm Jones 0.


Ludlow A v Church Stretton 1.5 - 3.5

B Nickson 0, S Rooney 1

J Whittaker 0, G Shepherd 1

R F Woodley 1, A Thorpe 0

P G Munday 0, F Rooney 1

K Thomson 0.5, C Pimm Jones 0.5.

Church Stretton v Shifnal Telford C 3 - 2

S Rooney 0.5, W Peck 0.5

G Shepherd 1, R Gillespie 0

A Thorpe 0.5, R Brown 0.5

F Rooney 1, A Carr 0

C Pimm Jones 0, T Skidmore 1.

Church Stretton v Coddon B 3 - 2

G Link 1, M Carbin 0

G Shepherd 1, E Raby 0

A Thorpe 1, N Paul 0

C Pimm Jones 0, G Viszokai 1

T Williamson 0, A Pickles 1. 

Newport B v Church Stretton 1.5 - 3.5

S Cooper 0, S Rooney 1

S Davies 0, G Link 1

J Allan 1, A Thorpe 0

R Szwajkun 0, F Rooney 1

S Szwajkun 0.5, C Pimm Jones 0.5.