2026 British Chess Championship LIVE

The 2026 British Chess Championship gets underway on August 1 at the University of Warwick, bringing together more than 100 players for England’s premier national championship. More than 1,000 chess players from across the UK, including the best of Britain’s grandmasters and child prodigies, are expected to descend on the city to take part in a series of tournaments and wider chess events.

The nine-round Swiss tournament runs until August 9 under the organization of the English Chess Federation. Nine-time British champion Michael Adams heads the starting list as the top seed with a FIDE rating of 2622. The veteran grandmaster is joined by fellow GM Luke McShane, while a new generation of British talent will look to challenge for the title, including Harry Grieve, Shreyas Royal, Ameet Ghasi, Bodhana Sivanandan and Marcus Harvey.

Adams enters the event seeking a remarkable 10th British Championship title, having remained one of Britain’s leading players for more than three decades. Meanwhile, rising stars such as Royal and Grieve will aim to continue the generational shift in English chess by challenging the country’s established grandmasters.

Live games from the British Chess Championship 2026 will be daily on Chessdom.

British Chess Championship 2026 participants

Championship			105 entries
Num	Name		Fedn	Club	FIDE Std	ECF Std	TR
1	Adams, Michael	GM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2622	2752	2622
2	McShane, Luke J	GM	ENG	4NCL Guildford	2597	2683	2597
3	Royal, Shreyas	GM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2502	2569	2502
4	Grieve, Harry	IM	ENG	4NCL Chess in Schools and Communities	2502	2560	2502
5	Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav	IM	UKR	4NCL Wood Green	2495	2579	2495
6	Ghasi, Ameet K	GM	ENG	4NCL The Sharks	2494	2568	2494
7	Harvey, Marcus R	IM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2470	2565	2470
8	Czopor, Maciej	IM	POL	4NCL Wood Green	2458	2556	2458
9	Williams, Simon K	GM	ENG	4NCL Cheddleton	2455	2490	2455
10	Waldhausen Gordon, Frederick	IM	SCO	4NCL Alba	2450	2527	2450
11	Willow, Jonah B	IM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2450	2512	2450
12	Mahadevan, Siva	IM	IND	Solihull	2448	2555	2448
13	Roberson, Peter T	IM	ENG	4NCL The Sharks	2439	2531	2439
14	Han, Yichen	IM	NED	Magdalen College School	2437	2550	2437
15	Gordon, Stephen J	GM	ENG	3Cs	2429	2492	2429
16	Kanyamarala, Tarun	IM	IRL	4NCL Greater Manchester Woodpushers	2426	2505	2426
17	Pert, Richard G	IM	ENG	4NCL Cheddleton	2410	2478	2410
18	McDonald, Neil R	GM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2399	2415	2399
19	Golding, Alex	IM	ENG	Guildford	2389	2453	2389
20	Jackson, James P	IM	ENG	Banbury	2381	2424	2381
21	Sivanandan, Bodhana	FM	ENG	Harrow	2359	2300	2359
22	Chow, Sam	FM	AUS	4NCL White Rose	2358	2422	2358
23	Hebden, Mark L	GM	ENG	Syston	2345	2436	2345
24	Fava, Lorenzo	FM	ITA	4NCL Warwickshire Select	2343	2526	2343
25	Banerjee, Supratit	FM	ENG	CCF	2342	2512	2342
26	Vijayakumar, Rishi	FM	SCO	Castlehill	2332	2408	2332
27	Badacsonyi, Stanley	FM	ENG	Barnet Knights 4NCL	2325	2436	2325
28	Wells, Peter K	GM	ENG	4NCL White Rose	2318	2400	2318
29	Balaji, Aaravamudhan	IM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2315	2418	2315
30	Han, Qixiang	FM	ENG	Kent Juniors	2311	2286	2311
31	Ledger, Andrew J	IM	ENG	Sheffield	2308	2326	2308
32	Yao, Lan	WGM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2308	2357	2308
33	Vaidyanathan, Adithya	FM	ENG	South Birmingham	2307	2425	2307
34	Fitzsimons, David	IM	IRL	4NCL Wood Green	2307	2320	2307
35	Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan E	GM	SCO	4NCL Wood Green	2305	2336	2305
36	Mirzoeva, Elmira	WGM	ENG	4NCL Barnet Knights	2287	2394	2287
37	Turner, Max N	CM	ENG	4NCL White Rose	2286	2358	2286
38	Bates, Richard A	IM	ENG	Hackney	2286	2318	2286
39	Bezuidenhout, Roland	FM	RSA	Fareham	2284	2363	2284
40	Davies, Nigel R	GM	ENG	Tiger Chess	2276	2328	2276
41	He, Tom Junde	FM	ENG	4NCL Warwickshire Select	2266	2271	2266
42	Verbytski, Oleg		ENG	Charlton	2260	2332	2260
43	Shearsby, Jude	FM	ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	2254	2325	2254
44	Pigott, John C	IM	ENG	Little Heath	2254	2342	2254
45	Rudd, Jack	IM	ENG	Barnstaple	2253	2336	2253
46	Murawski, Jan	CM	ENG	Oxford City	2251	2367	2251
47	Cancedda-Dupuis, Livio		ENG	Caterham	2250	2341	2250
48	Norris, Zack	CM	ENG	Wotton Hall	2244	2388	2244
49	Hobson, Kenneth	FM	ENG	Cowley	2244	2349	2244
50	Badacsonyi, Frankie	FM	ENG	Barnet Knights 4NCL	2241	2278	2241
51	Cummings, David H	IM	CAN	4NCL South Wales Dragons	2233	2357	2233
52	Bowcott-Terry, Finlay		ENG	Warwickshire Select	2232	2361	2232
53	Saunders, Aron		ENG	Oxford University	2225	2302	2225
54	Blackburn, Jonathan LB	FM	WLS	The Audible Checks, Alsager CC	2221	2301	2221
55	Mannion, Steve R	IM	SCO	Paisley	2220	2270	2220
56	Dupuis, Denis K	CM	ENG	Battersea	2217	2209	2217
57	Toma, Katarzyna	WGM	ENG	4NCL Wood Green	2208	2269	2208
58	Kanyamarala, Trisha	WGM	IRL	4NCL Greater Manchester Woodpushers	2191	2319	2191
59	Stubbs, Oliver	CM	ENG	Downend & Fishponds	2187	2322	2187
60	Raju, Sooraj Menothuparambil		IND	Leicestershire	2186	2276	2186
61	Carroll, Thomas	NM	ENG	4NCL White Rose	2184	2307	2184
62	Brahme, Avadhoot Lokesh		IND	Darlington	2183	2185	2183
63	Dicen, Elis Denele	WFM	ENG	Coventry Chess Academy	2182	2308	2182
64	Varnam, Liam D	FM	ENG	The Sharks	2178	2270	2178
65	Crawford, Owen		ENG	4NCL To Be Decided	2174	2276	2174
66	Khoury, Theo	FM	ENG	4NCL Oxfordshire	2172	2296	2172
67	Cont, Arya		ENG	University of Warwick	2171	2273	2171
68	Majeed, Haroon		ENG	Downend & Fishponds	2171	2206	2171
69	Elgar, Tim		ENG	Ashton	2166	2217	2166
70	Baker, Chris W	IM	ENG	East Grinstead	2161	2225	2161
71	Deepak Ambattu, Rithvik	CM	SCO	Edinburgh West	2155	2245	2155
72	Wall, Tim P	FM	ENG	Newcastle	2154	2306	2154
73	Kolani, Arjun		ENG	4NCL Sussex Martlets	2137	2261	2137
74	Fellowes, Billy	CM	ENG	Kenilworth	2132	2278	2132
75	Hill, Alistair		ENG	Hammersmith	2129	2239	2129
76	Cheng, Louis		SCO	Edinburgh west	2118	2161	2118
77	Nicholas, Koichi B		ENG	SchachAttack	2114	2171	2114
78	Lentzos, Ioannis	CM	GRE	Sharks	2110	2195	2110
79	Potter, John M		ENG	Belper	2094	2228	2094
80	Blackford, Ross		SCO	Dunbar	2091	2088	2091
81	Quaite, Toby		ENG	Ilkley Chess Centre	2085	2276	2085
82	Tahmankar, Mandar		IND	NICS	2085		2085
83	Patel, Zain		ENG	Kings college Senior School	2082	2200	2082
84	Green, Michael		ENG	John Littlewood	2072	2159	2072
85	Rida, Ruqayyah	WFM	ENG	4NCL She Plays to Win	2064	2225	2064
86	Sharma, Devesh		SCO	Edinburgh West	2063	2032	2063
87	Davis, Colin J		ENG	Bristol & Clifton	2056	2099	2056
88	Bhatia, Kanishka	WCM	SCO	Lenzie	2056	1941	2056
89	Rughani, Mahin		ENG	4NCL Greater Manchester Woodpushers	2054	2132	2054
90	Rich, Aaron	CM	ENG	York	2046	2168	2046
91	Terler, Bohdan		ENG	Maidenhead	2035	2140	2035
92	Thomas, James		ENG	Downend & Fishponds	2005	2133	2005
93	Sefton, Adam		ENG	Guildford	2003	2176	2003
94	Jermy, Jaden		ENG	Bury St Edmunds	2001	2208	2001
95	Zhao, George	CM	ENG	Pimlico	1998	2195	1998
96	Friar, Joseph D		ENG	Kidderminster	1994	2167	1994
97	Gunatilake, Vinuda	CM	SRI	Chichester	1993	2130	1993
98	Ortiz Sanchez, Luis		WLS	Mushrooms	1977	2063	1977
99	Hariharan, Shambavi	WFM	ENG	Oxford City	1977	2119	1977
100	Vaddhireddy, Sai		ENG	Ashton	1974	2065	1974
101	Camp, Imogen AL	WCM	WLS	4NCL To Be Decided	1964	1974	1964
102	Cooke, Suzy G	WFM	SCO	Badgers Brook	1934	2043	1934
103	Nevska, Gerda	WCM	GCI	Guernsey	1860		1860
104	Chapman, Luke		ENG	Bexhill	1856	2100	1856
105	Ruddy, Rachel	WCM	JCI	Jersey	1681		1681