The English Chess Federations’ new Club of the Year is Witney Chess Club.

It’s a well-deserved honour to a club that has undergone a renaissance in recent years and swept the board for Oxfordshire top honours last season — winning both the 1st division title and the Frank Wood Shield cup competition.

Witney meet from 7.30pm on Mondays and have a terrific venue: Ducklington Village Hall.

New members are of course especially welcome and the club has a thriving junior section. Oxfordshire’s most promising junior, Marcus Harvey, 16, is set to join the club and take on some coaching duties.

Marcus was the only victor — in fact nobody else managed even to draw — when chess superstar Nigel Short took on 25 players simultaneously in Banbury recently. Amongst the chess elite, Short is now something of a veteran — but it’s worth remembering that he was something of a prodigy himself, 30 odd years ago. The following game was played when he was 16 years old.

White: Lars Schneider

Black: Nigel Short

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 Short used to play the Black side of the Pirc regularly as a teenager — right up until this mauling at the hands of Belarusian Viktor Kupreichik in 1982 — a year after the main game was played. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.Qd2 Nbd7 6.Nf3 Qa5 7.Bd3 e5 8.0–0–0 b5 9.Kb1 Qc7 10.Bg5 Be7?! 11.h4 a6 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.h5! Nxh5 14.Bxe7 Kxe7 15.Rxh5! gxh5 16.Qg5+ Nf6 17.Nxe5 Rg8 18.Qf4 Ra7 19.Nd5+!! cxd5 20.exd5 Bb7 21.Ng6+! Kd7 22.Qf5+ and Short resigned.

3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.Be3 b6 7.e5 Ng4 8.Bg1 c5 9.h3 Nh6 10.d5 Na6 11.Qd2 Nc7 12.g4 Bb7 13.Be3?! dxe5! 14.0–0–0! With his 13th move, Short not only had to calculate the game continuation — but also to see that he could save his h6 knight and even emerge a pawn ahead after 14.fxe5 Nxd5 15.Bxh6 Nxc3 16.Bxg7 Qxd2+ 17.Nxd2 (or if 17.Kxd2 then 17...Ne4+) 17...Kxg7! 14...Nxd5! 15.Nxd5 e6 16.g5!? Schneider sees a way to remain a piece ahead — but Short had seen further. 16...Nf5! 17.Nf6+ Bxf6 18.Qf2 Nd4 19.Bxd4 cxd4 20.gxf6 Qxf6 21.Bg2 Short is a piece down — but his central pawns now roll forward in unstoppable style à la Botvinnik. 21...Qxf4+ 22.Kb1 Rad8 23.Qe2 Bxf3 24.Bxf3 f5 25.Bc6 e4 26.h4 Kg7! A calm and unhurried move — impressive chess for a 16-year-old. 27.Ba4? d3! Latching on to the tactical flaw in White’s last move. 28.Qg2 e3 29.Bb3 Qe4! 30.Qxe4 fxe4 31.c3 e2 32.Rde1 Rf2 0–1.