Ten-year-old prodigy WFM Bodhana Sivanandan stunned the nation in the 2025 British Chess Championship in Liverpool on Sunday, becoming the youngest woman ever to beat a grandmaster and the youngest-ever to earn the Woman International Master title. Meanwhile, 53-year-old GM Michael Adams sealed his ninth national title after winning a dramatic three-way playoff.
The 111th British Chess Championship had several notable storylines, which will be covered in this recap.
Final Standings 2025 British Chess Championship | Championship Group
| Rk. | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 | rtg+/- |
| 1 | GM | Michael Adams | 2663 | 7 | 1.7 | |
| 2 | GM | Stuart C Conquest | 2511 | 7 | 10.3 | |
| 3 | IM | Peter T Roberson | 2440 | 7 | 10.7 | |
| 4 | GM | Gawain Maroroa Jones | 2651 | 6,5 | -7.7 | |
| 5 | IM | Svyatoslav Bazakutsa | 2481 | 6,5 | -2.2 | |
| 6 | IM | Jonah B Willow | 2459 | 6,5 | 4.9 | |
| 7 | GM | Nikita Vitiugov | 2676 | 6 | -9.7 | |
| 8 | GM | Ameet K Ghasi | 2501 | 6 | -1.2 | |
| 9 | GM | Matthew J Wadsworth | 2483 | 6 | 4.4 | |
| 10 | GM | Stephen J Gordon | 2469 | 6 | -4.0 | |
| 11 | IM | Maciej Czopor | 2434 | 6 | 11.3 | |
| 12 | IM | Siva Mahadevan | 2416 | 6 | 8.2 | |
| 13 | IM | Richard G Pert | 2409 | 6 | 4.8 | |
| 14 | IM | Rajat Makkar | 2406 | 6 | 6.2 | |
| 15 | GM | Glenn C Flear | 2358 | 6 | 17.9 | |
| 16 | FM | Supratit Banerjee | 2242 | 6 | 49.6 |
Bodhana Defeats Grandmaster, Becomes Youngest-Ever WIM
We’ll start with the Bodhana, who once again stole the spotlight, just two weeks after she last made waves with her 2400 performance in France to score a historic first WGM norm.
In the British Chess Championship, the 10-year-old prodigy secured her third and final WIM norm with her 5/9 score. Bodhana picked up 24 rating points with her performance and finished tied for 26th, yet-another incredible achievement by the rising star.
More importantly, the performance was enough to secure her third and final norm for the WIM title, making her the youngest-ever to do so, at the age of 10 years, five months and three days. That record was previously held by GM Zhansaya Abdumalik, who achieved her WIM title in 2011 at the age of 11 years and five months.
In other words: Bodhana smashed the decade-old record by a year.
It wasn’t the only record the young star broke. The title was sealed when she miraculously defeated the experienced GM Peter Wells in what was a roller coaster of a game. “How on earth did she win this? She must be some kind of magician,” GM Danny Gormally said as the commentator for the English Chess Federation broadcast.
How on earth did she win this? She must be some kind of magician!
—Danny Gormally on Bodhana
Wells later explained his misery on his X account:
Chess can be so cruel. Missing clear wins just 2 moves from defeat twice in three days is crazy – even when in a spiral of low confidence/time-trouble. Whilst I still totally believe in the message of our Mindset book, it is time to attend to mental health with a very long break!
— Peter Wells (@GMPeteWells) August 10, 2025
The game didn’t only earn Bodhana a historic WIM title, but it also makes her the youngest girl to ever defeat a grandmaster in a classical tournament game, according to Chess.com’s research.
IM Carissa Yip had just turned 11 when she defeated GM Alexander Ivanov during the New England Open in 2014, a game that was only USCF-rated, not FIDE rated. GM Hou Yifan had also turned 11 when she beat GM Zhaoqin Peng in the 2005 Chinese Team Championship.
Commentator Gormally hailed the young sensation: “She likes to play simple positional moves, nothing special, very solid player and she tends to outplay her opponents later in the game. There’s a touch of a [world number-one] Magnus Carlsen or the great Jose Raul Capablanca about her play. I would imagine Magnus Carlsen is probably one of her chess heroes.”
There’s a touch of a [world number-one] Magnus Carlsen or the great Jose Raul Capablanca about her play.
—Danny Gormally on Bodhana
For Bodhana, the title is likely just one small step on the road towards greater things. She has previously said she wants to become world champion and one of the greatest players in the world.
Adams Convincingly Wins Playoff To Take Title
For the top spots, it was once again English legend Adams who showed his class by defeating GM Stuart Conquest and IM Peter Roberson in a rapid playoff after all three had tied on seven points in the nine-round Swiss event.
The 53-year-old cashed in the £5000 ($6700) first prize. WGMs Lan Yao and Elmira Mirzoeva shared the women’s title after they both finished on 6/9.
More than 1,000 players from around the nation took part in the event, which was held in the landmark St. George’s Hall in Liverpool. It included several age- and rating-restricted groups, but the main event was the 69-player Championship group, which featured 14 grandmasters and 18 international masters.
Notable absentees were UK’s number one GM Matthew Sadler, who has not played rated games since 2020 despite his current 57 game unbeaten-streak in classical, and number-three GM David Howell after many recent commentator gigs.
Adams’ main rivals to the trophy were top seed GM Nikita Vitiugov, the former Russian grandmaster who emigrated to UK following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and defending champion GM Gawain Maroroa Jones.
The event proved to be another battle between youth and experience, with the old guys taking most of the top spots. Jones fell behind early on after losing the second round, followed by a number of draws.
Vitiugov was a part of a six-way tie for first going into the final round, but the former world number-15 was severely punished for his overly aggressive approach against 58-year-old Conquest.
Meanwhile, Adams defeated IM Maciej Czopor, a 21-year-old Polish IM who resides in London.
Due to worse tiebreaks, Conquest and Roberson had to go through a “semifinal” to decide who would play Adams in the final match for the title. That match was won by Conquest, but then the former England number-one prevailed by winning both rapid games.
With nine titles, Adams is now behind only Jonathan Penrose’s 10 titles between 1958 and 1969, on the all-time list of British champions.
“At this stage, any success I have seems like it could be the last. It was quite unexpected for me. I was hoping I might find a way to win one tournament this year, so it has rather exceeded expectations,” Adams told Chess.com in a response.
I was hoping I might find a way to win one tournament this year, so it has rather exceeded expectations.
—Michael Adams, 9-time British Chess champion
The 9-time champion said he wasn’t happy with his play in the event. “I thought my games in the English Championship were more impressive, but I was pretty solid against a strong field.”
He noted the curious mix of “oldies”, along with the rising stars. “The future is certainly bright in the latter respect, I don’t need to put any more expectations on them, but will be happy to follow their continuing achievements,” Adams said.
“Another brilliant win for the Cornish sensation,” Gormally said. “An unbelievable score!”
GM Emil Sutovsky, CEO of FIDE, also praised the veterans.
While everyone justly praising Bodhana, I’d like to single out the outstanding results of veteran players in British Championship. Yes, 54 or 58 y.o. guy having a great chess event won’t get many reports outside of the chess world, but one of the unique features of our game is…
— Emilchess (@EmilSutovsky) August 11, 2025
Supratit Banerjee Earns First IM Norm At 11
Another rising British star is 11-year-old FM Supratit Banerjee, who earned his first IM norm by scoring 6/9, defeating GMs Mark Hebden and Simon Williams, finishing shared for 7th place.
The young star is another of Britain’s many rising stars, and is tipped for glory. His current 2242 rating makes him eighth on the list of the highest-ranked players born after 2014, but his performance earned him 49 rating points, and he is set to make a significant jump on that list.
Supratit effectively outplayed the more experienced Williams.
The youngster also had a dramatic eighth-round game, where he only sealed the draw after 6.5 hours of play and 145 moves. The end was even captured on tape!
Dramatic end to Rd 8! FM Banerjee’s 50-move draw claim vs IM Harvey was rejected as he claimed on the wrong basis — but after 145 moves & 6.5hrs, it still ended in a draw. Six players now tied on 6pts — the final round tomorrow will be unmissable! 🔥♟ #BritishChess pic.twitter.com/TWdAjNhp1T
— English Chess Federation (ECF) (@ecfchess) August 9, 2025
Government Funding Promises Bright Future For British Chess
These performances come just weeks after the U.K. government renewed its backing for the game, pledging £1.5 million ($2 million) to develop the nation’s young talents.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, herself a former junior chess player, made the announcement during the annual ChessFest in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square, which drew over 20,000 visitors.
“We are allocating £1.5m to help identify, support and elevate top tier players who have the potential to compete at a global level,” she said in a post on X..
Having played chess at a young age, I know the transformational impact it can have on young people.
That’s why today we’re allocating £1.5m to help identify, support, and elevate top-tier players who have the potential to compete at a global level. pic.twitter.com/21EpxD4WEs
— Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) July 13, 2025
The investment follows the $1.25M boost in 2023, made under the former prime minister Rishi Sunak, which has helped young talents develop. The new funding will focus heavily on youth players such as GM Shreyas Royal, who became Britain’s youngest-ever grandmaster last year.
The chess interest in the U.K. has also been helped by BBC’s prime-time reality TV competition Chess Masters: The Endgame, which sparked mixed reactions in the chess community but was overall considered a success with a peak audience of nearly 900,000 viewers per episode.
With Adams adding to his legacy, and rising stars like Bodhana and Banerjee making headlines, along with major new funding in place, the future for British chess looks bright. The 2026 British Chess Championship has already been announced, to take place in Coventry.
