It has been a chess-packed summer for Warwick chess players across year groups. The 2026 British Chess Championships took place locally, at the University of Warwick in Coventry, and it proved to be the biggest and most successful Championships of recent years, drawing in over 2200 entrants with thousands more attending as spectators.
Mr Lam, who formed part of the Championship Steering Committee, had played in the Main Championship the last time it took place in Coventry back in 2015, but was content this time to watch current Warwick School pupil, Candidate Master Billy play in his second British Main Event, a truly impressive achievement at only fourteen years of age. Billy finished on a very creditable 4.5/9 in the Main Championship, gaining a healthy chunk of rating points. That he had to play other titled players in eight of the nine rounds is testament to the strength of the competition.
The Championship could not have been such a success without its team of administrators and arbiters, working hard in the tournament hall and behind the scenes. Warwick’s pupil Gregory was proud to be among those selected to be a Championship arbiter, and he justified the choice by once again doing an outstanding job; unflappable and unfailingly professional.
The British Championships however proved to be merely a taster of what was to come for Billy. After a short break, he was back in action at the super strong London Mind Sports Rapid and produced a sensational performance. Billy finished on 6/10 which included wins against a Candidate Master and FIDE Master and two draws against Grandmaster Wadsworth of England and Grandmaster Gasanov of Ukraine. His best result however came in round 4 when he faced one of England’s most respected Grandmasters, chess authors and coaches, John Emms. Billy upset the odds to down Emms, finishing him off with a lovely queen sacrifice to liquidate to a winning endgame. Then for good measure, Billy also played in the Blitz tournaments on both days of the weekend, finishing on 7.5/11.
After 48 hours of chess, Billy was not finished though. The day after the Rapidplay, the Mind Sports International began. It consisted of nine rounds of standardplay, in which a single round can last for up to 7-8 hours; a truly gruelling schedule. Billy was understandably a little off the pace in the first round, but caught up in rounds 2-3 to set up a round 4 tie with the top seed, Grandmaster Milosz Szpar of Poland. The win against John Emms would have been a great confidence boost, but this promised to be an even tougher prospect on paper; having the Black pieces in a standardplay against a Grandmaster in his prime and rated over 2500. In probably his best performance to date, Billy completely outplayed Szpar in a manner which Grandmasters themselves are used to doing against weaker players. After positionally strangling his esteemed opponent and tying him completely in knots, Billy delivered the coup-de-grace with a killer tactic. The rest was child’s play and when the Grandmaster stretched out his hand in a gesture of defeat, Billy had achieved the upset of the tournament and his first win against a Grandmaster in an international standardplay event. Billy went on to finish on 5/9, gaining a huge chunk of rating points in the process.
A big well done to Billy and all the Warwick chess players for their achievements over summer!
