MALVERN Chess Club's second team, Malvern Sharks, has won the Worcester League Division Two championship after a close and tense finish.

At the end of the season three teams were competing for the trophy beside Malvern Sharks, Redditch, Headless Cross and Kidderminster Rooks. Then Redditch, though not playing their strongest side were crushed 3 - by Headless Cross, but made things harder for Kidderminster with an impressive away draw. This meant that the Rooks were assured of second place at least and Malvern Sharks only needed a draw in their one remaining fixture.

However, they were a player short and it looked likely that they would have to field only three players but Phil, the captain, heard that Eak Sugkraroek, a Thai student who plays on the 4th board had just arrived back from Thailand and he was persuaded to turn out at short notice.

Anyway, in the event, Malvern won every game against Headless Cross. The individual results are given below, Malvern names first, with white on the odd boards: 1. Denis Spencer 1, Mark Hore 0; 2. G Probyn 1, Penny Wood 0; 3. Phil Millard 1, David Pemberton 0; 4. Eak Sugkraroek 1, Alan Miners 0.