Tuesday 25 November 2008

Juniors battle in Newport-Coddon match

The battle of juniors raged in Newport on Thursday night as Peter Mellor and Athar Mehmood, board 1 and 2 for Shropshire Juniors respectively, tussled on top board. Athar eventually gaining the victory. However, the rest of the games finished a lot quicker. Board 5 was settled after move 1 as for the third time Newport had to default with the loss of Luke West. Board three ended next when Huw Davenport agreed a draw with his childhood chess coach Alan Shaw. After playing on Shaw realised he would have won as a forced back rank mate was unseen by Davenport. Jamie Allan and Mark Richards lost on the other boards meaning Coddon won convincingly. Coddon B 3.5-1.5 Newport Juniors P Mellor 0-1 A Mehmood A Pickles 1-0 M Richards A Shaw 0.5-0.5 H Davenport N Paul 1-0 J Allan C Paul 1-0 Default

Saturday 22 November 2008

Juniors’ excellent start to the season continues

I interviewed Matthew Best to obtain the following report from last night's exciting match Shrewsbury Juniors v Oswestry:

Shrewsbury juniors have been on form recently, and took two more points against top of the table Oswestry B. After a loss on board 4 for Johnathan Newey, a win on board 5 for Matthew Best over Euan Stevenson levelled the scores. Stephen Tulett and Shrewsbury’s Henry Graham drew their game despite the junior being outgraded. A hard-fought win on board 2 for Chris Lovejoy over Richard Farrall gave the juniors the upper hand, 2½-1½. On board three, Oswestry’s Alf Evans rebuffed the dangerous-looking attacks from Francis Rooney emerging a piece up in what appeared to be a winning ending. However, with the Oswestry man having a mere 2½ minutes left, Francis Rooney offered the draw, and Alf Evans accepted. After the game, people at the Shrewsbury club were reflecting on what a growing threat the youngsters are. Having lost only one game so far this season against title favourites Coddon B (3-2), they have drawn two games which were possible wins, and beaten rivals Newport Juniors.

Sunday 16 November 2008

Strong showing for county team

The Shropshire Junior county team came very close to chalking up their first points in the Midlands county championship with a 6.5-5.5 result against Nottinghamshire on 15 November. The junior team has represented the county for the past two seasons in this competition with the vast majority of their opponents being experienced adult players. The latest match is their best result so far. Shropshire winners against Nottinghamshire were Athar Mehmood, Huw Davenport, Matthew Best and Matthew Mellor, while draws were achieved by Mark Richards, Jamie Allan and Angelica Dean. A number of the other games were also close and it looked at one stage as if we might pull off a victory. Overall it was a fantastic performance by the team! The next match is on 13 December against Worcestershire. MATCH - Shropshire U100 v Nottinghamshire

SECTION - U100

DATE - 15 November 2008

VENUE - Trinity School, Ford, Shropshire

Board

Colour

Name

Shropshre

ECF Code

Grade

Score

Name

Nottinghamshire

ECF Code

Grade

Score

1

B

Peter Mellor

248946G

85

0

Allan Brown

221644K

98

1

2

W

Athar Mehmood

264465E

78

1

Michael Zang

261179L

96

0

3

B

Nathaniel Paul

245834C

65

0

Robert Parker

265583E

96

1

4

W

Mark Richards

264468L

59

½

Chris Sargeant

251856K

95

½

5

B

Huw Davenport

257511F

56

1

Ric Dawson

165413F

90

0

6

W

Francis Rooney

264469B

49

0

Derek Cronshaw

143502E

87

1

7

B

Jonathan Newey

267845H

49

0

Andrew Garside

259650H

80

1

8

W

Matthew Best

269317D

37

1

Len Morrell

115804B

74

0

9

B

Jamie Allen

273629K

35

½

Arun Maini

263693B

71

½

10

W

Matthew Mellor

260562E

23

1

Ross Mackay

267595L

66

0

11

B

Angelica Dean

-

-

½

Ken Heath

112441K

62

½

12

W

Oscar Nicholls

-

-

0

Dorothy Blampied

106873J

60

1

Friday 14 November 2008

Newport Juniors v Oswestry B

Newport's Jamie Allan is now supplying reports of his team's matches to the blog. Here is his report from last week's match against Oswestry B. Newport Juniors had to field an understrength team for the second time because of the unavailabilty of Athar Mehmood. Huw Davenport lost on board one and after a quick start debutant Luke West lost in an endgame situation on four. Two good wins from Jamie Allan and Mark Richards meant once again the juniors lost after defaulting board five. Newport Jrs v Oswestry B H Davenport 0, S Tullet 1 M Richards 1, A Evans 0 J Allan 1, R Farrall 0 L West 0, G Ives 1

Shrewsbury Juniors unbeaten run ends - or does it?

Shrewsbury Juniors ended up 3-2 down in their match last week against Coddon B. But a possible rule infringement by Coddon might see the Shrewsbury team awarded the match points. Two Coddon players were not fielded in the correct grading order as the league rules require, so Shrewsbury have referred the matter to the league controller. The result has not yet been confirmed on the Shropshire chess website. In the matches on the night, Shrewsbury scored a win from Jonathan Newey and draws from Francis Rooney and Matthew Best. There were two all-junior encounter in the match. On board 1, Peter Mellor, overcame Henry Graham with in a sharp attacking game and on board 4, Coddon's Nathanael Paul overcame Shrewsbury's Chris Lovejoy after developing a match-winning advantage following a tight early middle game. Coddon B v Shrewsbury Juniors Peter Mellor 1-0 Henry Graham Alan Pickles 0-1 Jonathan Newey Alan Shaw 0.5-0.5 Francis Rooney Nathanael Paul 1-0 Chris Lovejoy Chris Paul 0.5-0.5 Matthew Best (Final match result to be confirmed)

Sunday 9 November 2008

Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D

Shrewsbury Juniors retained their unbeaten record with a draw against Shifnal & Telepost D, despite being a player short. Good wins for Chris Lovejoy and Francis Rooney plus a solid draw from Jonathan Newey saw them hold the match event though they lost board five by default. Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D 2.5 - 2.5 H Graham 0, J Kenderdine 1; J Newey 0.5, J Beddoes 0.5; C Lovejoy 1, A Carr 0; F Rooney 1, N Donaldson 0; default 0, D Terry 1.

Shrewsbury Juniors v Telepost C

Shrewsbury Juniors v Shifnal & Telford D 2.5 - 2.5 H Graham 0, J Kenderdine 1; J Newey 0.5, J Beddoes 0.5; C Lovejoy 1, A Carr 0; F Rooney 1, N Donaldson 0; default 0, D Terry 1.

Newport Juniors v Wellington B

Newport Juniors chalked up a win against Wellington B in their league match. Wins for Alex Taylor, Athar Mehmood (by default) and Jamie Allen saw them win 3-2. Wellington B v Newport Juniors 2 - 3 D Powell 0, A Taylor 1; Ogundipe-default 0, A Mehmood 1; J Hucygnski 1, M Richards 0; D Wright 1, H Davenport 0; B Ives 0, J Allen 1.

County match 18 Oct

The first county match on 18 October proved a tough challenge for Shropshire juniors. The match ended 10-5-1.5 to Leicestershire which included a very fine win by Nathaniel Paul and a draw by Huw Davenport. We will put some of the games on this site for you to play through soon. (Well as soon as we have made sense of the scoresheets!)

MATCH - LEICESTERSHIRE V SHROPSHIRE

SECTION - U100

DATE - 18/10/2008

VENUE - PLOUGH INN, LITTLETHORPE

Board

Colour

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

Name

BCF Code

Grade

Score

1

W

BARRIE COOPER

108821 L

97

1

PETER MELLOR

248946 T

85

0

2

B

IAN FARQUHARSON

190455 A

94

1

ATHAR MEHMOOD

264465 E

78

0

3

W

ELIZABETH GIST

269703 J

94

0

NATHANIEL PAUL

245834 C

65

1

4

B

STUART HOLLINGWORTH

260174 G

90

1

MARK RICHARDS

264468 L

59

0

5

W

MICK BUSBY

107771 F

91

½

HUN DAVENPORT

257511 F

56

½

6

B

RICHARD DAVIS

250154 F

91

1

FRANCIS ROONEY

264469 B

49

0

7

W

MICHAEL THORNTON

120374 F

88

1

CHRIS LOVEJOY

249687 C

48

0

8

B

STEVAN PREOCANIN

250151 L

87

1

MATTHEW BEST

269317 D

37

0

9

W

TERRY CLAY

108464 B

83

1

JAMIE ALLEN

273629 K

35

0

10

B

GEORGE WINTERTON

162084 J

83

1

MATTHEW MELLOR

260562 E

23

0

11

W

MICHAEL ADAMS

253513 A

80

1

ANGELICA DEAN

273523E

-

0

12

B

HERVE TRIBOUILLOY

272935 A

27

1

OSCAR NICHOLS

-

-

0

13

14

15

16

10.5

1.5