International Master Andrew Martin conducted a fantastic coaching session for Shropshire juniors on Saturday 12 June. The event was organised by Shropshire Junior Chess Academy.
Local juniors worked through a tough series of challenges set for them by Andrew and in the prixze competition Sam Eardley and Laura Newey won special prizes of Andrew's chess DVDs.
The session was a great success and we look forward to all the juniors putting what they have learnt into practice in the forthcoming season.
Following the coaching session there was a simultaneous match involving Andrew playing 19 opponents at the same time. The juniors did very well at this as well with Matthew Best getting into a winning position only to be squeezed out by a mating attack and Heath Pearson being one of the last to finish.
The final result of the simul was Andrew Martin 17.5 Shropshire 1.5 with Peter Kitchen, Shrewsbury getting a striking win and Andy Tunks getting a well-deserved draw.