NINE years ago, York were standing on the brink of breaking their championship duck and required a win on the last day against long-term regional leaders Hull to secure the cup.

But despite having one of the strongest possible teams out, they slipped up and lost.

"We should have beaten them that day," said joint manager Neville Pearce. "But we bottled it. That's why everyone's so nervous."

But last Saturday, bottle it they didn't, and as the final handshake was offered to Detlef Plump, a spontaneous outpouring of emotion saw a mixture of cheers and tears as a 120-year ambition was finally realised.

The Woodhouse Cup - the first division in the Yorkshire League - started in 1884 and York were promoted into the league 20 years ago.

Since then, they have watched Hull take the title an amazing 14 years in a row and have come agonisingly close to lifting the cup on a number of occasions. But everything seemed to click this time. And the final table's won 10, drawn one, lost none record shows them deserved winners with the nearest rivals lagging behind having won seven and drawn four.

"I think the key has been getting the strongest team out every week," said Pearce, who works alongside John Griffith to pick the teams.

"And our junior policy has paid big dividends. The junior side started quite a few years ago and now the next lot of players are coming through as well."

There will be more celebrations after the Woodhouse Cup is finally handed over to the city team at the league AGM on June 19, which, fittingly will be at the scene of the final battle at the RI headquarters.

Such is the feeling among the club that every player to have played for the first string in the last 20 years is being contacted for a united celebration of the hard fought victory, contributed to by so many over the years.

Pearce said: "Chess is really buoyant in York at the moment. If you look at the size of the club, we have four senior teams and one junior team, and there isn't any other city in Yorkshire that have got that many.

"Sheffield and Bradford have three, Hull have two and Leeds have four.

"It's got to be the cheapest sport in the world to play. When people play here we ask for just £1 to play to cover tea and coffee.

"For anyone starting up, all you need is a set and a board - it is very very cheap to play.

"It's also very addictive. All our players are really up for it. You get bitten by the bug and it gets you in such a way that - even when you have a really bad game - you just cannot wait to get back and play again."

Other long-standing traditions include annual matches against Harrogate and a Roses Shield contest played against Lancaster.

Lightning chess forces players to make a move every ten seconds, while rapidplay matches must be completed in just 30 minutes - a hard task when you consider that championship and league match sessions can last anything up to four or seven hours.

Making chess sexy

CHESS: it ain't about squares. It's the new sexy sport where we sit in chairs.

Catchy, isn't it. That is just one of the slogans adopted by the Chess as a Sport campaign currently striving for the pastime to be recognised as a sport by the government.

The magic label would make players eligible for massively increased Lottery funding and would go some way to instilling respect for the pastime - especially from the ranks of the more traditionally-associated sports.

But the jury is still out on whether or not the board game can be classed as a sport or whether it belongs in the hobbies section of the local toy store alongside dominoes, Ludo and even Old Maid.

The majority of the countries in the European Union say sport with all the trimmings - including drug testing, while Australia and Canada are both on the trail for recognition in their respective countries.

One of the biggest milestones to date was the decision by the International Olympic Committee to formally recognise the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in 1999, but it will not feature in the Games in Athens this summer.

Updated: 10:13 Saturday, May 15, 2004