From Jonathan Penrose to Bodhana Sivanandan, young talents have specialised in defeating established stars

Nearly half a century ago, at Brighton 1977, the 10-time British champion, Jonathan Penrose, faced a 12-year-old boy, Nigel Short, in round three of the national title contest.

Short already had a fast-growing reputation after defeating the legendary Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous display in London the previous year. David Bronstein, watching that game, compared the winner’s rook infiltration via the fifth rank after move 40 to José Capablanca’s strategy against Aron Nimzowitsch at New York 1927.