British Championships 2026

Warwick University, Coventry

Sat Aug 1 to Sun Aug 9 2026

The British Championships consists of 33 events plus Rapid, Blitz and variants tournaments. This year is billed as the biggest ever, with 1970 entrants, which comes down to 1066 after players who are in more than one tournament are taken into account, but still way more than prior to the post-pandemic popularisation of the game.

The Championship itself has been billed as an elite event for the last few years but is now back over 100 players, and six Bristol qualifiers took part:

	Score	Club	Qualification Route
Zack Norris	5/9	Clifton
Colin Davis	4½/9	Clifton	Major Open
Aron Saunders	4½/9	Downend	Last year's Championship
James Thomas	3/9	Downend	Major Open
Haroon Majid	3/8	Downend	British Championship Grand Prix
Oliver Stubbs	2/7	Downend	West of England Champion

Many other Bristol players took part in the alternative events:

Freddie Pick	South Bristol	Major Open	6/9
Sean Rice	Bath	Major Open	5½/9
Elmira Walker	Downend	Major Open	3½/9
Richard Johnson	Grendel	Over 65s	2½/7
Carolus Tang	Downend	Under 12s	4/7
Yaksh Tripurari	Downend	Under 10s	3½/7
Clive Walley	Bath	Under 1900	5/6
Grant Daly	Downend	Under 1750	2/5
Noah Taylor	Clifton	Under 1900	3½/6
William Taplin	Bath	Under 1600	3½/6
Naveen George	Clifton	Under 1900	3½/6
Michael Ashworth	Clifton	Weekend Open	3/5
Robert Ashworth	Clifton	Weekend Open	2/5
Tom Booth	Clifton	Weekend U1500	1½/5

Play for the main event starts at 2.30 from the 1st, one game a day. Final round on Sunday 9th starts at 10 am. Full listings are shown here and live games are available at Chess.com or Lichess.

Round One

3	Aron Saunders	2225	0	Shreyas Royal GM	2514	1
9	Oliver Stubbs	2185	0	Maciej Czopor IM	2455	1
18	Tarun Kanyamarala IM	2398	0	Haroon Majeed	2153	1
37	Colin Davis	2056	0	Zack Norris	2275	1
43`	James Thomas	2005	½	Elmira Mirzoeva WGM	2262	½

Round Two

6	Zack Norris	2275	0	Svatoslav Bazakutsa IM	2488	1
30`	Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant GM	2270	1	James Thomas	2005	0
38	Devesh Sharma	2089	0	Aron Saunders	2225	1
42	Aaron Rich	2043	0	Oliver Stubbs	2185	1
43	Denis Dupuis	2183	1	Colin Davis	2056	0
49	Haroon Majeed	2153	½	Luis Ortiz Sanchez	1977	½

Round Three

20	Jonah Willow IM	2459	1	Aron Saunders	2225	0
22	Oliver Stubbs	2185	0	Lan Yao WGM	2320	1
28	Billy Fellowes	2132	1	Zack Norris	2275	0
45	Jaden Jermy	2012	0	Haroon Majeed	2153	1
46	James Thomas	2005	1	Koichi Nicholas	2114	0
50	Colin Davis	2056	1	Shambavi Hariharan WFM	2056	0

Round Four

26	Haroon Majeed	2153	½	David Fitzsimons IM	2292	½
30`	Tom He	2266 FM	1	James Thomas	2005	0
34	Zack Norris	2275	1	Liam Varnam	2149	0
38	Aron Saunders	2225	0	Toby Quaite	2085	1
39	Devesh Sharma	2089	1	Oliver Stubbs	2185	0
42	Tom Carroll	2180	0	Colin Davis	2056	1

Round Five

25	Nigel Davies GM	2276	½	Haroon Majeed	2153	½
26	Arya Cont	2143	1	Zack Norris	2275	0
33	Colin Davis	2056	0	Rithvick Ambattu	2164	1
42	James Thomas	2005	0	Tim Wall FM	2148	1
45	Bohdan Terler	2035	½	Aron Saunders	2225	½
46	Oliver Stubbs	2185	0	Jaden Jermy	2012	1

Round Six

29	Haroon Majeed	2153	0	Roland Bezuidenhout	2262	1
35	Zack Norris	2275	1	Mahin Rughani	2096	0
37	Theo Khoury FM	2249	½	Colin Davis	2056	½
41	Oleg Verbitski	2228	0	James Thomas	2005	1
42	Aron Saunders	2225	½	John Potter	2092	½
49	Luis Ortiz Sanchez	1977	½	Oliver Stubbs	2185	½

Round Seven

26	Arjun Kolani	2158	0	Zack Norris	2275	1
36	Elis Dicen WFM	2182	½	Colin Davis	2056	½
37	Michael Green	2038	½	Haroon Majeed	2153	½
38	James Thomas	2005	0	George Zhao	2125	1
40	Adam Sefton	2003	½	Aron Saunders	2225	½
47	Oliver Stubbs	2185	½	Imogen Camp	1964	½

Round Eight

22	Zack Norris	2275	½	Ioannis Lentzos	2110	½
37	Colin Davis	2056	1	Jai Kothari	2160	0
39	Haroon Majeed	2153	0	Toby Quaite	2085	1
42	Aron Saunders	2225	1	James Thomas	2005	0

Round Nine

21	Devesh Sharma	2089	½	Zack Norris	2275	½
33	Jonathan Blackburn FM	2220	½	Colin Davis	2056	½
36	Kanishka Bhatia	2073	0	Aron Saunders	2225	1
45	James Thomas	2005	½	Joseph Friar	1994	½