Prize double for Rooneys at Hereford congress

Church Stretton's Francis and Steve Rooney both came away from the Hereford congress last weekend with prizes. Francis took third place in the Minor (U120) and the U100 grading prize, while his dad Steve was equal first in the Open.

Francis (photographed below with the other Minor prizewinners) was undefeated and finished on 3.5 points including 2 wins against higher-graded opponents. He could easily have finished in second place but for a bizarre end to the final game in his section when a local Hereford player resigned because he couldn't cope with the pressure of everyone watching, just when his opponent had managed to squander all of his advantage and create a dead-drawn position.

Steve finished on 3 points - not normally enough to win a prize, never mind a share of first place - but the section was a low-scoring affair and was a much weaker field than you'd normally find at an Open. The event suffered from a very low entry overall, perhaps because of the clash with a 4NCL weekend.

It is a well-run congress however at a good venue and the organiser is hoping to run it again next year and if so, maybe more Shropshire players will be tempted to take part.

On the up!

A home win against Telepost C clinched promotion for Church Stretton.

Graham Shepherd was captain for the match and he and board one Karl Wakefield secured draws, while Gerald Link, Eric Elwell and Chris Pimm Jones got the wins needed for a decisive 4-1 victory.

Two games left, including an away tie on 5 April at Ludlow which will probably decide the division 2 title. Ludlow have been gifted another 5-0 whitewash as Shifnal & Telford conceded their long-postponed fixture, which is likely to see both South Shropshire teams in division 1 next season. Shrewbury B are still in contention however and will be our guests for our final match of the season on 14 April.

Good result at Telford

Our trip to Shifnal & Telford saw us chalk up another win to take us 3 points clear at the top of Division 2, at least for the moment ...

It was another line-up we haven't had before - will we get to the end of the season without playing the same team twice?

An early win for Gerald Link on board four got us off to a good start, which was soon followed by Karl Wakefield winning on board two when Andy Jones' position crumbled under the pressure of two pins. A draw was agreed on board three between Graham Shepherd and Roger Brown which left the two Rooneys to finish.

Francis on board 5 was a piece ahead but his opponent had better activity and gradually used his initiative to grind out a win. Steve Rooney on board one turned down a draw, which would have clinched the victory, but got the full point when Windsor Peck's flag fell in what was then a completely winning position for the Stretton captain.

Three games to go.

Squad strengthened by returning players

Two of the club's former stalwarts were welcomed back into the team for the away match at Oswestry. Karl Wakefield and David Williams played their first matches for some time, but clearly haven't got too rusty in the meantime as both chalked up wins in a 5-0 whitewash.

The return of Karl and David has reinforced our "squad" approach to this season - we have played eight matches and haven't fielded the same line-up more than once.

Tom Williams looked like he was heading to the bar very early on after winning a queen for a knight in a dozen moves but his opponent Alf Evans created a solid defensive phalanx around his king. Tom decided to play the long game and take his time in breaking through, which he eventually did after Graham Shepherd and then Karl Wakefield won their games. David Williams made it 4-0 when he became the third player in the team to win an exchange of rook for minor piece, and then a fifth win was had on board one by Steve Rooney.

Looks like we are definitely in the promotion race now!

Newport doubled

We managed to secure the double against Newport B in a 3-2 home win in the latest league match.

Newport have had a tough season and are yet to get any points, but they ran us pretty close in a hard fought match.

Eric Elwell and Adrian Thorpe snatched early wins but Newport levelled the match by winning on boards 4 and 5, leaving Steve Rooney to grind out a win in the face of some stubborn resistance by Steve Cooper.

Holding the draw

The first league match of 2011 resulted in a draw in a home tie against Shifnal & Telford B.

Graham Shepherd and Gerald Link won comfortably on boards 1 and 2, and draws for Tom Williamson on 4 and Francis Rooney on 5 sealed the win.

Onward and upward!

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.