11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan crowned Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s champion
England’s 11-year-old prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan, another superstar-in-the-making, became Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s Chess Champion. Her only loss in the tournament was to Shreyas Royal in Round 6. In a tense, rapid-chess playoff between the top female players, Sivanandan defeated Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala, a hugely promising talent herself and the first Irishwoman to hold the WGM title. Photo: Yuri Krylov
17-year-old Grandmaster Shreyas Royal wins his first British Championship
Seventeen-year-old Shreyas Royal scooped the overall British title. He topped the table after nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of two of England’s more seasoned grandmasters, Luke McShane and nine-time champ Michael Adams. It was Royal’s first British title and the result underlined his status as an emerging world-class talent.
After seven rounds, Royal had taken the sole lead on 6/7, putting the teenager firmly at the centre of the championship race. His performances against experienced opposition underlined his growing status at the top of British chess. Royal took a quick draw against English chess legend Adams in the penultimate round before a final-round win over International Master Harry Grieve secured him the title.
The 11-year-old has become the youngest-ever British women's champion after overcoming Kanyamarala in a playoff to take the title. In the faster formats of the game, Sivanandan is already the reigning UK Open Women’s Blitz Champion and joint British Women’s Rapid Champion. Victory in the classical event gives her an incredible triple crown of titles. Before the championship, Sivanandan had been identified as the player to watch, with organisers highlighting her chance to break the record held by Elaine Pritchard, who won the British Women's Championship outright in 1939 aged 13.
Akshaya Kalaiyalahan had subsequently shared the title in 2013 when she was just days short of her 12th birthday. Sivanandan has now surpassed them both.
The north-west London player has spent the past year rewriting the record books and establishing herself among Britain's strongest female players despite being only 11. She also produced one of the standout results of the championship by defeating Grandmaster Ameet Ghasi.
Her playoff victory over Kanyamarala now adds the biggest domestic title yet to an already remarkable list of achievements.
Royal and Sivanandan's victories are particularly striking because both were among the young players attracting attention before the championship began, and both have left Warwick as British champions. Their success also reflects the changing face of British chess.
Grandmaster Danny Gormally, commentating on the event for the English Chess Federation, said in the closing moments: “Unreal! Bodhana has won. She is unbelievable, a generational talent.” Gormally went on to predict Sivanandan will return to challenge for the overall title in the next few years.
Royal and Sivanandan’s victories provided a remarkable finale to the biggest British Chess Championship in the event's 122-year history, with more than 2,600 entries across all events at the University of Warwick. For Royal, the title represents the latest major milestone in a remarkable rise through British chess.
The 2026 championships were billed as the biggest in the event's 122-year history, with more than 1,750 entries and a record £34,000 prize fund for the open championship. The women's prize fund was also more than doubled, while organisers expanded the festival programme with junior training, social events and competitions for players ranging from under-8s to seniors. The tournament brought together players across generations, from established grandmasters to some of Britain's most promising juniors.
And at the end, the two names at the top of the results were Royal and Sivanandan.
About the English Chess Federation:
The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England and is affiliated to FIDE (the Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Its mission is to promote the game of chess, in all its forms, as an attractive means of cultural and personal advancement to the widest possible public. In addition, the ECF exists to develop chess by creating the means to enable the highest forms of chess excellence to be achieved, and to expand the game as a social and sporting activity.
For more information, contact:
Leon Watson
English Chess Federation
leon.watson@englishchess.org.uk
07786078770