A 15-year-old schoolboy has become Britain’s youngest ever Chess grandmaster – beating his personal target by six years.
Shreyas Royal secured the title at the British Chess Championships in Hull yesterday, beating David Howell’s 2007 UK record of becoming a grandmaster at 16.
A GM norm in chess is defined as a performance benchmark that a player must achieve over 27 games, which conventionally requires three separate tournaments.
Besides playing chess, Shreyas enjoys football, cricket and reading books – his favourite being the Alex Rider spy series.
The teenager’s father, Jitendra Singh, who watched the championships from his house in Woolwich Arsenal, told The Times: ‘I am so extremely proud of Shreyas.
Shreyas Royal, 15, (pictured) secured the title at the British Chess Championships in Hull yesterday
In August 2023, Shreyas (right) was invited to the Downing Street garden to take on the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left)
‘It is a huge achievement for him and one he has been working towards for many years.’
In 2018, Shreyas’ family faced having to return to India after his father’s work visa expired, leaving the teen devastated.
The family were helped by the English Chess Federation (ECF), which wrote to former immigration minister Caroline Nokes to see if she would give special clearance.
But when she would not agree, the ECF approached former home secretary Sajid Javid, who said he would overrule Nokes due to the boy’s special talent.
Shreyas playing chess with the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023
Dominic Lawson, the president of the ECF, said: ‘Shreyas is a wonderful young man, mature beyond his years, and completely dedicated to self-improvement.’
Javid previously described Royal as ‘one of the most gifted chess players in his generation’ and invited him to visit the Home Office for a game, which the teenager easily won.
In August 2023, Shreyas was invited to the Downing Street garden to take on the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, marking the government’s decision to invest £1million into chess.
