Following their convincing 4-2 victory over Cowley 1 on January 10, Witney first team remains top of the first division of the Oxfordshire Leagues.

Until January 13, when Witney 1 and City 1 played their Frank Wood Shield quarter-final match at Cumnor Club’s superb premises, the double was very much on the cards. However, City triumphed 4-2. Witney 2 will be City 1’s semi-final opponents and, in the other half of the draw, University 1 will meet either City 2 or Bicester 1.

The following game was played on board three of the Witney 1 – City 1 clash.

White: Weisin Tan (City 1) Black: Mark Hannon (Witney 1) 1.a3?! In effect, ceding the first move to Black. I tried it once without much success and in the end decided I liked playing with the white pieces too much to repeat the experiment.

1...g6 A logical reply, to meet 2.b4 with 2…Bg7 hitting White’s rook.

2.e4 d5!? Transposing into a Scandinavian defence. Black often plays a g6 fianchetto in the Scandinavian; but White sometimes plays a3,+ especially in 2…Qxd5 lines. So Black may not be gaining a whole tempo after all. 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Qd6 5.d4 Bg7 6.Be3!? There is nothing wrong with the natural 6.Nf3. 6...Nh6!? 7.Qd2 Nf5 8.0–0–0 Nxe3 9.Qxe3 The computers prefer 9.fxe3; but to human eyes, White’s position looks more harmonious after the queen recapture.

9...0–0 10.Nb5!? Qd8 11.Qg3 Na6 12.Nc3!? c6 13.Nf3 Nc7 14.Ne5 Nd5 15.Bc4 Be6 16.Rhe1 Rc8 17.Ne4! Out of nowhere White has generated some threats. Even though Black’s position looks well-coordinated, his bishop on e6 lacks squares and White threatens to attack it with 18.Nc5.

17...b5 Perhaps 17...b6 was better, though it looks passive.

18.Bb3 a5 19.Nc5 Bf5 20.Qf3! Be6!? An interesting and imaginative move that I am sure would have met with the great Bent Larson’s approval.

21.g3!? Mark’s idea is that after 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Qh3 Qd6 Black can quite easily defend e6 and continue operations on the queen side. Instead, Weisin chooses to control f4 and hold the e6 capture in abeyance. 21...a4 22.Ba2 b4? This is tempting; but it loses material and, despite appearances, it does not further the attack. 22...Qd6 was a better move when Black could continue with ...Rb8 and then ...b5.

23.axb4 Nxb4 24.Bxe6 fxe6 25.Qa3! Nxc2!? 25...Qa5 26.f4 would leave White in control.

26.Kxc2 Rxf2+ 27.Kb1 Rb8 28.Nxa4 Qa5 29.Re3 This is solid enough; but White does best to walk into Black's trap with 29.Nxc6 Rbxb2+ 30.Qxb2 Rxb2+ 31.Nxb2 leaving him with a safe king and an excess of material for the queen.

29...Rb4 With both players short of time, Mark might have caused Weisin more worry with 29...Qb5 30.b3 Bxe5 31.dxe5 Qc4.

30.b3 Qb5? This makes it easy, whereas after 30...Bxe5 31.Rxe5 Rxd4! 32.Rxa5! Rxd1+ 33.Qc1 Rxc1+ 34.Kxc1 Rxh2 White still has work to do.

31.Nc5 Bxe5 32.Rxe5 1–0