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

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.

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
					5½				6½

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)

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