All posts tagged: Shreyas Royal

Shreyas Royal interview: ‘Written in stars’ Indian-origin prodigy on finally becoming UK’s youngest-ever GM at 15 | Chess News

Published by Webster

Shreyas Royal was about eight when he first seriously thought that he could be a grandmaster. That dream came true after the Indian-origin British player achieved his third and final grandmaster norm at the British Chess Championship in August after five narrow misses over various tournaments in the past year. The 15-year-old thus becomes the UK’s youngest-ever grandmaster beating the previously-held record of GM David Howell. Born in Bengaluru, Shreyas’ family moved to the UK when he was just a kid. Over the past few years, Shreyas, along with another Indian-origin prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan, has become the face of British chess. “When I started playing chess, the first thing you hear about the sport is that there are titles like grandmasters. I thought to myself, I want to be a grandmaster one day. But I only started seriously thinking that I could become a GM when I was eight or nine after I had come joint first in the European age group chess championship,” Shreyas tells The Indian Express at the Friend’s House in London …

Meet the Indian-origin chess prodigies taking Britain by storm | Chess News

Published by Webster

In August last year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on the verge of announcing a mega financial package for chess in the UK, invited two young chess prodigies to 10 Downing Street. They were eight-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan and 14-year-old Shreyas Royal – both British citizens of Indian origin, just like Sunak himself. Since the pandemic, India has gained a reputation as a land of young chess stars, but these two Indian-origin prodigies have made a reputation for themselves in England. Last year, Bodhana won the under-8 title at the World Cadet Championship. She is also the World Youth Champion and is presently ranked 30th in England in the women’s category. Shreyas is currently ranked 19th in England among active players. Over the course of two months, Bodhana has defeated three International Masters — Lorin D’Costa at the European Blitz Championship in Zagreb last month, and Lela Javakhishvili and Nurgyul Salimova at the European Women’s Blitz Championship in Monaco last week — besides holding multiple others like Grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz to draws. Shreyas, too, has made …