There are 1,327 named openings and variations to a match in The Oxford Companion to Chess, but how can a player remember any of them when the day’s spectators include a pair of dragons? “Actually, I don’t think anyone is worried about them at all,” laughs the artist James C Christensen. “They enjoy a well played game. It’s the little guys with the lances that get ornery when they are captured.”

Welcome to The Chess Match as imagined by James, the professor of the imagination. “These characters are quite passionate about the game. You’ll . . .