B team promoted

Church Stretton B have clinched promotion from division 3 with another resounding win. A 3-1 victory against Priorslee Lions C puts them on 18 points and out of reach of all but second-placed Newport B. The race for the title is still on though and I imagine that is what is in Tom's mind now.

Church Stretton B 3 Priorslee Lions C 1

G Shepherd 1, M Reynolds 0; 

E Elwell 0.5, S O'Dell 0.5; 

T Williamson 1, A Brannen 0; 

C Pimm-Jones 0.5, T Gilmour 0.5

The B team's promotion puts added pressure on the A team to do the same as we don't want two teams in the second division next season. An emphatic 5-0 win at Shrewsbury B didn't do us any harm though.

The match was a bit more balanced than the scoreline suggests however and the result flatters us a little. Karl was first to win, against the run of play, as he ended up worse from the opening. His opponent admitted afterwards to psyching himself out and not playing more positively because of the perceived difference in playing strength. A good lesson to play the position on the board and not worry about who your opponent is.

Michael was next to win with an approach that was a bit like a tiger waiting to pounce in a position that was reasonably balanced; as soon as his opponent strayed he was in for the kill. David followed and clinched the match putting us 3-up, having been dominant most of the game and patient enough not to squander any advantage.

The top two boards took quite a time to come to a conclusion. Steve was a bit lucky on board two as his opponent didn't manage to get anything decisive from a space advantage and started dropping pawns in the latter stages. Trevor's game went down to the wire with a frantic race to win finally ending up with KRP v KR. His opponent missed a check during the scramble and as it was an illegal move he pointed out that Trevor should have an extra two minutes. No-one jumped in to offer to re-set the clock quickly however and Trevor said 'play on'. Fortunately he won on time, but with less than a minute on his own clock, so didn't regret his gesture.

So the A team are two points clear at the top of Div 2, but there are still a couple of crucial games to go, including a return with Shrewsbury B.

Shrewsbury B 0 Church Stretton A 5

M Smith 0, T Brotherton 1; 

N O'Connor 0, S Rooney 1; 

A Lewis 0, M Bukojemski 1; 

I Davies 0, K Wakefield 1; 

A Purser 0, D Hodge 1.