Royal Wootton Bassett town clerk Jonathan Bourne – who has played chess since he was eight years old – has been featured in a national magazine.

He plays with a team that has been promoted from division three to division two in the Four Nations Chess League, and won a game which features in the June edition of Chess.

Mr Bourne said his opponent, James Essinger from Nottingham, was very gracious about the victory, especially since he wrote up the notes for the match.

He said: “There were quite a lot of sacrifices going on, and in chess sacrifices are always quite fun to watch.”

Mr Bourne said it was particularly special because usually only the top masters and champions get featured in the magazine.

He said: “When you get to my age you give up all hopes of becoming a great champion and all your aspirations are more realistic, and to play a good game is what’s really important and something to be quite proud of.”

Mr Bourne is one of the top 500 players in the country, and joined the England Junior Squad when he was in his early teens. He has also been County Chess Champion for Wiltshire on three separate occasions.

Before that he was Junior County Chess Champion in Shropshire and went on to be Senior County Chess Champion for Shropshire.