BRITISH INDIAN chess players Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, and Shreyas Royal, 17, made chess history last weekend by winning the 2026 British Chess Championships.
Bodhana became Britain’s youngest-ever women’s chess champion at the championships, which concluded in Coventry last Sunday (9). Cheered on as “Godhana” during the rounds, she won her title in a rapid-chess playoff against Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala.
“Unreal! Bodhana has won. She is unbelievable, a generational talent,” Grandmaster Danny Gormally said as he wrapped up his commentary for the English Chess Federation (ECF).
Bodhana first picked up chess during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown after a friend of her father, who was returning to India, gave her a few bags of belongings, including a chessboard.
“I was interested in the pieces, so I started playing,” she said at the time.
Since then, the north-west London schoolgirl has broken several records. In faster formats of the game, Bodhana is the UK Open Women’s Blitz Champion and joint British Women’s Rapid Champion. Her latest win in the classical championship gives her titles in three formats. Her only loss at this year’s championship came against Royal in the sixth round.
Shreyas RoyalInstagram
Royal, meanwhile, won the overall British title after finishing top of the table following nine rounds. He finished half a point ahead of the other leading players.
The result gave Royal his first British title.
“Keep persisting, no matter how tough things may get,” Royal previously said after he became England’s youngest grandmaster at the age of 15. The south-east London teenager has since become one of the UK’s leading young chess players. At this year’s championship, he moved into contention for the title as the tournament progressed.
Royal was born in India and moved to the UK at the age of three with his parents, Jitendra and Anju Singh, from Bengaluru. About eight years ago, the ECF campaigned with the Home Office to allow Royal and his family to remain in the UK.
“In 2018, as home secretary, I took a decision to allow Shreyas and his family to remain in the UK. Wonderful to see his extraordinary talent flourish. Britain is proud of you, Shreyas,” former minister Sajid Javid said in a social media post after Royal’s latest win.
The 2026 British Chess 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.
