In a disappointing finish to the season for Oxford’s Four Nations Chess League club, not only did Oxford 1 get demoted from division 1 to division 2 — but Oxford 2 narrowly missed promotion and so — once again — failed to escape the hugely competitive third division.

There also reside Oxford 3 — though this is less a cause for concern since having one team in the third division serves as a useful training arena for young talent.

Despite the missed opportunities, there were some outstanding individual performances for the two Oxford third division teams this season.

Cowley Club’s Chantelle Foster posted an impressive 4.5/5 and Bicester’s Marcus Harvey deserves mention for his 3/5 against strong opposition.

Probably the best set of results though were turned in by City’s Sean Terry who defied his lowly Fide rating — just 1861 — to score 6.5/8 and a 2208 performance. Sean’s play was a model of consistency and control this season.

Witness his near faultless handling of the Sicilian Defence in the Oxford 2 — Rookies match in round 8.

White: Steven Turvey (The Rookies) Black: Sean Terry (Oxford 2) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 By delaying ...Nf6, Black invites White to try the — usually desirable — e4 and c4 pawn set up known as the Maroczy Bind. However here, after 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4, Black has strong pressure against White’s centre.

5.Be3 a6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Nd2!? A slightly passive move. Judging from his play so far, White probably wants to avoid the pin that results from 7.Nc3 Bb4 — rather than keep open the option of the Maroczy Bind.

7...d5!? 8.Bf3 e5! 9.N4b3?! Not best. This knight is now badly placed and furthermore, White denies himself the much-needed tempo given by the better move 9.Nxc6.

9...d4! 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Be2 h6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.0–0 g5!? Aimed at pre-empting White’s main plan — namely playing f4.

14.Bg4 Bd6 15.Bxe6 Qxe6 16.Qe2 0–0 17.Rac1 Rfc8 18.Nc4 Bc7 19.c3 White is getting squashed and must try to break free.

19...b5 20.Ncd2 Bb6! Sean keeps control of the position — maintaining his space advantage.

21.cxd4 exd4!? 22.a3 White is really stuck for a plan here.

22...Ne5! Aiming to play ...d3 gaining even more space.

23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Rc1 d3! 25.Qe1 Ng4 Ouch! White can’t defend f2 and could really have resigned right here.

He plays on — but Sean finishes him off with some style to cap a marvellous display of controlled chess.

26.Rxc8+ Qxc8 27.Qc1 Bxf2+ 28.Kf1 Qb8!

29.Nf3 Bb6 30.g3 Nxh2+!

31.Nxh2 Qxg3 32.Qc8+ Kg7 33.Qc3+ Kh7 34.Nd4 Qh3+ 35.Ke1 Qe3+ 0–1