Michael Adams wins his ninth British Chess Championship; Yao and Mirzoeva tie for Women’s title
Michael Adams, the king of British chess, won his ninth national title on Sunday in a sensational three-way playoff finish to the 111th British Chess Championships in Liverpool. The 53-year-old Cornishman, nicknamed “The Spider”, showed all his class to win the rapidplay tiebreaker ahead of International Master Peter Roberson and Grandmaster Stuart Conquest, the 2008 champion. All three had tied on 7/9 during the regular nine-round championship at Liverpool’s magnificent St George’s Hall. Full list of prizewinners here Adams, who led throughout, takes home £5,000 and the British Crown Trophy he first won in 1989 from the English Chess Federation organised event. Meanwhile, Lan Yao and Elmira Mirzoeva, both WGM title-holders, were crowned joint 2025 British Women’s champions. Lan drew in the final-round, while Mirzoeva won to finish level on 6/9. It was Lan’s fourth title in a row and Mirzoeva’s first. Other notable results: 10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan won her final WIM norm William Claridge-Hansen has an IM norm 11-year-old Supratit Banerjee gained an IM norm Roberson and Conquest, the winner the last time the British was in Liverpool 17 years ago, both had an incredible tournament. The playoff format dictated Roberson and Conquest fight it out for the right to play Adams over two 10+5 games. The 58-year-old Conquest (pictured below), affectionately known as “The Fox”, rolled back the years to emerge with a 2-0 win and get a chance to take the crown. But, in a battle of the golden oldies, the overwhelming favourite Adams was too strong and claimed the 2025 title. Adams is now behind only Jonathan Penrose, who won 10 titles between 1958 and 1969, in the all-time list of British champions. “Another brilliant win for the Cornish sensation,” Grandmaster Danny Gormally, the ECF’s expert commentator, said. “An unbelieveable score!” Over 1,000 chess players from across the UK, including the best of Britain’s grandmasters and child prodigies, had descended on Liverpool to take part in a series of tournaments and wider chess events held over nine days. The final round of the elite nine-round Swiss championship started on Sunday with six players locked on 6/8. Any one of three grandmasters in Adams, Nikita Vitiugov and Conquest plus three International Masters in Roberson, Richard Pert and the Pole Maciej Czopor could have gone on to win. It was tense. First, Roberson downed Pert to go ahead before Adams won his final game to force a playoff with a trademark grinding win over Czopor. Conquest, who was in also fine form throughout, then won his place in the playoff by sensationally downing England’s current number-one Vitiugov. “I don’t think we’ve seen the best yet of Vitiugov, I’m pretty certain of that,” Gormally said. “He will win national titles, there’s no question about it. He wasn’t at his best in this tournament.” Shreyas Royal, England’s youngest ever grandmaster (pictured below, right), had challenged until the eighth round when a loss to Conquest ended his chances. The 16-year-old was then beaten at the last by 22-year-old International Master Jonah Willow. However, Royal’s strong showing demonstrated his time will come. Another youngster who put in an impressive show was 11-year-old Supratit Banerjee who finished on 6/9 having beaten two grandmasters and sealed his first IM norm. Gormally tipped the youngster as a shoe-in for a future British champion. Gormally also heralded the performance of 10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan who turned around a losing position in the final round to beat the experienced Grandmaster Peter Wells. Looking at the game, Gormally said: “How on earth did she win this? She must be some kind of magician!” Sivanandan secured her final WIM norm and is another tipped for a big future. Defending champion Gawain Jones finished on 6.5/9. He said afterwards he “wasn’t quite firing” during the tournament. The 2026 British Chess Championships, which includes age-group events from under-8 to seniors, will be held at the University of Warwick in Coventry, the English Chess Federation has announced. The event in Coventry will be the 112th British Chess Championship in a series which has run almost unbroken since 1904. Written by Leon Watson, English Chess Federation Photos: Yuri Krylov, English Chess Federation Official website: britishchesschampionships.co.uk/