Centennial chess game to crown 'greatest player'

A 100-year-old county chess competition is marking its centenary with a special tournament to crown its greatest living player.

The annual county championship organised by Shropshire Chess Association is open to all residents, who compete across seven rounds for the Ernest Groom Trophy, first presented in 1926.

Chris Lewis is from the association and said it had invited former champions from across the decades to compete in a one-off tournament in October, to find the "champion of champions" and celebrate the event's 100-year-history.

The winner will receive a £200 prize fund and a new trophy, with the Ernest Groom prize reserved for this year's county competition.

Lewis said the association, which started in the 1800's, also organised three leagues across the county and included players from Shrewsbury, Telford, Church Stretton, Newport and Oswestry.

He added that the players who had signed up to the weekend-long tournament in October included 17-time county champion Nick Rutter and Shropshire's current "strongest" player Nigel Ferrington.

Lewis, who is also the head of junior chess in Shropshire, said the popularity of the game was "booming in a way its never done before" among younger generations.

"If you go back four years there probably wasn't any junior players playing in our leagues, but now there's over 100 active junior players and a good percentage are playing in the adult clubs.

"Those at the very top are starting to make the adults quite worried.

"In the next couple of years it could well be a youth putting their name on the county trophy."

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