Both University 1 and Witney 1 fielded their strongest sides for the final of the Frank Wood Shield held on 30th April. Witney secured a narrow 3.5-2.5 victory and completed a well-deserved League and Cup double. For the Univerity, Ravi Shanmugam scored on board 2, while for Witney there were wins for Dave Hackett and for Tim Headlong — who has had a great year: remaining unbeaten throughout 14 League and Cup games. Witney captain Mike Truran judged Dave Hackett’s board 6 win over Jeffrey Yu to be the game of the final.

White; Dave Hackett Black: Jeffrey Yu 1.e4 e5 2.d4!? exd4 3.Qxd4!? This is the Centre Game. It’s a decent surprise and used as such by luminaries as Alexander Shabalov, Judit Polgar, Alexander Morozevich and, closer to home, fast moving Bristol IM, Jack Rudd. It's worth noting that White could play 3.Nf3 when Black has nothing better than 3...Nc6 transposing into a Scotch.

3...Nc6 4.Qe3 Be7!? 5.Bc4 d6 After 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 takes us back into well explored territory. Then 6...d6 7.Bd2 0–0 8.0–0–0 Be6! is pretty solid for Black.

6.Nf3 Bf6?! This looks artificial and costs Black a tempo before he can castle. Why not 6...Nf6 with the familiar idea of ...0–0 and ...Be6?

7.Nc3 Nge7 8.h3 Be6 9.Nd5! Bxd5 10.exd5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.0–0! With b2 needing protection before the bishop can move, the idea of castling queenside now takes too long; so Dave changes plan.

12...0–0 13.g4!? Threatening to trap Black's bishop with 14.f4 and 15.g5.

13...Ng6?! Freeing e7 for the bishop — but doing nothing to halt the advance of White's pawns. This is a tricky position and careful calculation is necessary. 13...g6 looks the most natural move; but then after 14.f4 Black has to see that 14...Bf6! is the move, blocking the f-pawns advance — and not 14....Bg7 which allows the powerful f4-f5-f6 plan.

14.f4 Bf6 15.g5 Be7 16.Qg3!? White now wants to push his h-pawn. Black is still solid — but his lack of space is a weakness.

16...Re8 Black seems determined not to create weaknesses by pushing pawns - but curling up into a ball is rarely a good defence in chess. 16...f6 was a better move — but White still has his space advantage after 17.h4.

17.h4 Bf8 18.h5 Ne7 19.f5 Qd7? Still refusing to spoil his perfect pawns! Black had to try to get even a little space with 19...g6 20.f6! Nf5 21.Qh3! g6 22.hxg6 fxg6 23.Bd3 Qf7 24.c4 Nd4 25.Be3 c5 26.Bxd4 cxd4 27.Rae1 Re5 28.Rxe5 dxe5 29.Re1 Re8 30.Qg3 Bd6 Black has managed to fashion some sort of defence — but his queen on f7 is very poorly placed and Dave sees a way to break through.

31.c5!? Bxc5 32.Rxe5 Rd8 33.Qf3 Bd6 34.Re6 Bb8? Disastrous - but even after superior 34...Qd7 35.Qe4 b6 White doesn't have to find the spectacular 36.Bb5! Qxb5 37.Rxd6 because simple moves like 36.Kg2 maintain a huge advantage.

35.Re7! Qxd5 36.Qxd5+ Rxd5 37.Bc4 1–0.