At the age of 11 Benjy Dean-Britton is determined he is not going to become one of life’s pawns.

But while he may never become a king or a bishop, he is already a force to contend with when it comes to chess.

In his first match for England Under 11s, Ogbourne St George pupil Benjy cleaned up against Wales, winning both his matches and helping his team to victory.

Benjy was four when his father John introduced him to the game.

“Over the last two years he has come on fantastically,” said Mr Britton. “It all started when they began a chess club at his school.”

The club was started two years ago by Rachel Davis and Sue Faux.

“No one imagined that one of the 20 children who joined up would be representing England against Wales,” said Mr Britton.

Two school staff suggested to his father and his mother, Nancy Dean, that they introduce him to the Wiltshire Junior Chess group in Swindon, where Benjy really developed under the tuition of under-11s manager Frank Hodsoll.

As a result Benjy was selected to play for Wiltshire several times. He recently qualified for the south-west area megafinal, where he topped his age group, winning all six games, which qualified him for the gigafinal, a south of England competition that leads to the terafinal, a national event.

A few days after the megafinal, Victor Cross, manager of the England (south west) U11 team, called Benjy’s home at Draycott, near Ogbourne, to invite him to take part in the Wales match.

Mr Britton said: “His game has improved to the extent that I now find it hard to beat him.”