Chess: Adams wins ninth British title, while 10-year-old girl breaks two world records

Michael Adams edged nearer the all-time record for British Championship titles last weekend when the Taunton-based grandmaster won his ninth national championship at Liverpool.

Adams, who relaxes by watching cricket at Somerset’s county ground, has now equalled Henry Atkins’s total of nine championships from the first half of the last century, but remains one short of Jonathan Penrose’s 10 crowns from the second half. Adams’s first British title was in 1989 at age 17, still the youngest ever, but in the next 20 years he concentrated on the world championship, coming within a hair’s breadth of a reunification match with Garry Kasparov in 2004 before losing in the Fide final.

Starting with 2010, Adams made the British championship his priority, and he won five crowns in the next decade. Literally so, for the event trophy has been in the shape of a crown since the very first championship in 1904, and engravers now struggle to find space on it to add new names.

View image in fullscreen Michael Adams with the British Championship trophy Photograph: Yuri Krylov/English Chess Federation

Between 2010 and 2019 Adams won the British title five times, setting up his current record attempt. He still retains his international ambitions, is the reigning world over-50 champion, and is competing in the strong Rubinstein Memorial beginning on Friday at Polanica-Zdroj, Poland.

Two titles are still required before Adams can surpass the 10 championships of the late Penrose, and that may be difficult. A new generation of talents is emerging in England, encouraged by a £1.5m support grant over three years for elite talents announced by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, last month. The funding, which will start in April 2026, will be split equally between the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The pre-tournament favourite and top seed was Nikita Vitiugov, but the former Russian champion struggled to find his best form and was defeated decisively by Stuart Conquest in the final round, in an encounter which was awarded the joint best game prize.

The 2025 championship was keenly fought, with six players sharing the lead at the start of round nine. Adams won after a speed tie-break with fellow veteran Conquest, 58. Final leading scores were Adams, Conquest, and Peter Roberson (eliminated in the first round of tie-breaks) 7/9, Gawain Maroroa Jones, Svyatoslav Bazakutsa (Ukraine), and Jonah Willow 6.5.

View image in fullscreen 3985: IM Siva Mahadevan v GM Nikita Vitiugov, British Championship, Liverpool 2025.

Black to move and win.

The championship marked a breakthrough for junior talent. England’s youngest ever grandmaster Shreyas Royal, 17, was among the leaders for seven rounds, including an elegant win against Marcus Harvey, before falling into a trap against Conquest.

Bodhana Sivanandan, 10, continues to break records. The Harrow primary schoolgirl, who at eight won three world girls gold medals with a combined total of 33 straight wins, achieved her third and final norm for the WIM title with a 2300 rating performance, a full year younger than the previous record.

In the final round, Sivanandan became the youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster in a classical game when GM Peter Wells overstepped the time limit in a lost position.

At 10 years five months, Sivanandan was six months younger than the previous world record holder, Carissa Yip of the US, who defeated GM Alexander Ivanov at the 2014 New England Open (not 2019, as widely misquoted) aged 10 years 11 months. Yip has been the US woman champion for the past two years. Three-time British champion and taketaketake.com host David Howell called Sivanandan’s achievement “extraordinary”.

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Supratit Banerjee did best of the rising talents. The Surrey 11-year-old achieved his first international master norm, easily a UK age record, defeated two grandmasters in succession, and displayed remarkable maturity and stamina, including drawing a 145-move game.

Banerjee is again in action this week at the Kingston Invitational organised by the Guardian’s Stephen Moss followed immediately by the Northumbria Masters in Newcastle. It is a tough schedule for an 11-year-old. The Mindsports International is also under way in London.

There was criticism of the British Championship format after round eight of nine came with 28 players, more than a quarter of the field, separated by just a single point. Possible remedies are to restore an 11-round championship, with two extra double round days early on; and/or raising the rating floor for entries. However, Alex Holowczak, the influential English Chess Federation director of events, has said: “I see one round per day as sacrosanct for the British.”

The prize money (Adams received £4,400) is low for an era in which life-changing amounts are on offer for international chess events. When the government grant for elite talent becomes available, it would be reasonable to earmark at least £25,000 to boost the national championship prize money at the University of Warwick in August 2026.

In 1954, first prize in the British Championship was £35 and second was £15. They were shared after several weeks of a 10-game playoff. Just saying …

3985: 1…Rxd6! 2 Qxd6 (else Black wins with his extra knight) Bf3! 3 Resigns. The double threat is 3…Qxg2 mate and 3..Qc1+ 4 Kh2 Qh1 mate.

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