The extra chair

When the community centre reopened, the chess club was given the small room beside the kitchen. Mr Shah arrived first and arranged four tables in a square. He had run the club for eleven years and owned most of the sets. Each wooden box carried his initials beneath the clasp. At six, the regular players came in, complaining about the size of the room and the smell of paint. At ten past, a girl in a school blazer appeared at the door. She asked whether beginners were allowed.

Mr Shah pointed to the notice on the wall, which said that everyone was welcome. The girl read it, then looked at the tables. All eight seats were occupied. He found a chair in the kitchen and placed it beside him. ‘You can watch this game,’ he said. She sat with her bag between her ankles. For twenty minutes she followed the pieces without speaking. When his opponent moved a bishop, she leaned forward. Mr Shah raised one finger. She sat back again and folded her hands over the bag.

After the game she asked why he had not moved the knight. Mr Shah said that the position was complicated. She reached towards the board, then stopped and asked if she could show him. He nodded. Three moves later, his king had no safe square. His opponent laughed with sudden pleasure. Mr Shah felt the familiar heat that came when somebody found a mistake he had missed. ‘You said you were a beginner,’ he said. ‘At clubs,’ she replied. ‘My grandad taught me at home.’ The room seemed to pause around the board.

Mr Shah began returning the pieces to their starting positions. He could have explained that he was tired, or that he would have seen the move in a serious match. Instead he asked her grandfather's name. She told him, and he remembered a man who had played at the centre years earlier, always carrying his own clock in a shopping bag. Mr Shah pushed the board towards the empty chair. ‘Then perhaps you can teach me what I've forgotten,’ he said. His voice was lighter than he felt. The girl put her bag beneath the table and moved the white pawn.

At the end of the evening, Mr Shah collected the boxes. On the notice, beneath the words everyone was welcome, he added a second line: No need to have played in a club before. He read it twice. It was clumsier than the original sentence, but more useful. From the kitchen he fetched another table and measured the gap beside the window. The room was still too small. Next week somebody would complain about it again. He left the extra chair at the table instead of returning it to the kitchen.

Focus on the final three paragraphs, from ‘After the game’ to the end.

A reader said: ‘Mr Shah learns to be more welcoming, but the change is gradual and uncomfortable rather than effortless.’

To what extent do you agree and/or disagree? Evaluate how the writer presents his reactions and decisions, using evidence and analysis of the writer’s methods.