CHESS players from Magdalen College School, Oxford continued their domination of The Times British Schools zonal final by securing their seventh title triumph in the last eight years.

The Oxford school's victims this time were Dr Challoner's School, Amersham.

The Buckinghamshire school succumbed 4T-1T after a hard-fought encounter.

Now Magdalen will bid to reach the national semi-finals, having last year only just failed to make it through the last eight in the country.

The team was well led by Oxfordshire's leading junior Jonathan Lappage, who had the previous weekend scored an excellent 3T/5 in the Kidlington Major tournament.

Magdalen also owed much to school chess captain Laurence Hunt turning out of his sick bed with a temperature of 102 degrees in the morning to play and win on board two.