Indian-origin youngsters Bodhana Sivanandan and Shreyas Royal have made a significant mark on British chess after profitable the ladies’s and open titles on the 2026 British Chess Championships in Coventry.Bodhana, simply 11, turned the youngest-ever British ladies’s champion after beating 14-year-old Eire-based expertise Trisha Kanyamarala in a tense rapid-chess playoff.Her efficiency drew big reward, with Grandmaster Danny Gormally saying: “Unreal! Bodhana has received. She is unbelievable, a generational expertise,” throughout his commentary for the English Chess Federation.Bodhana’s chess journey started through the COVID-19 lockdown, when a household buddy gave her a chess board whereas returning to India. “I used to be within the items, so I began taking part in,” she mentioned on the time.Since then, the north-west London schoolgirl has collected main honours, together with the UK Open Girls’s Blitz title and a share of the British Girls’s Speedy crown.
Shreyas Royal received British Championship in open class
Seventeen-year-old Shreyas Royal received the Open British Championship after ending half some extent forward of England’s skilled grandmasters following 9 rounds. It’s his first British title and one other main step in his rise as a high younger chess participant.Royal, who moved from Bangalore to the UK together with his household on the age of three, turned England’s youngest grandmaster at 15.His newest victory additionally attracted reward from former minister Sajid Javid, who recalled serving to Royal’s household stay in Britain.“In 2018, as House Secretary, I took a choice to permit Shreyas and his household to stay within the UK. Fantastic to see his extraordinary expertise flourish. Britain is happy with you, Shreyas,” he mentioned.The 2026 championships featured greater than 1,750 entries and a report £34,000 prize fund for the open occasion.
