The 2026 British Rapidplay Championship was held on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March at the Holiday Inn Peterborough – West, as part of the English Chess Federation's International Series. All games were played at a rapid time control of 15 minutes for the entire game, plus a 10-second increment per move from the first move.
A total of 228 players registered to compete, including 7 grandmasters and 12 international masters. The top seeds were Gawain Maroroa Jones, Michael Adams and Daniel Gormally, who were the clear favourites on rating.
The playing hall in Peterborough | Photo: Ife Olayinka
The first six rounds took place on Saturday. Maroroa Jones made a strong start, emerging as the clear leader and the only player to score a perfect 6/6. Fifth seed Yichen Han and seventeenth seed Supratit Banerjee followed a half-point behind on 5½/6, while a further group of eleven players stood on 5/6, among them Adams and Gormally.
On Sunday, Maroroa Jones extended his winning run through round eight, at which stage he enjoyed a commanding 1½-point lead over a chasing pack of eight players. With three rounds remaining, the three-time British champion appeared firmly on course to secure the title. He then drew his next two games, maintaining his advantage but allowing one of his closest rivals to narrow the gap.
The decisive twist came in the final round. Maroroa Jones entered the last game with only a half-point lead over 15-year-old Frederick Waldhausen Gordon of Scotland, the 25th seed, who had surged into sole second place after scoring three consecutive wins in rounds eight to ten. Paired against the leader with the white pieces, Gordon managed to win the crucial encounter, inflicting Maroroa Jones's only defeat of the tournament and thereby securing outright victory in a notable turnaround.
Frederick Gordon | Photo: Ife Olayinka
Gordon had learnt to play chess at the age of six and quickly showed unusual aptitude for the game. Within a week, he was already beating his parents, both PhDs in mathematics. By the age of ten, he had defeated grandmaster Bogdan Lalic in a rapid game, an early indication of his competitive potential. At the time, the BBC wrote:
Frederick Waldhausen Gordon is just 10 years old and has already defeated a chess grandmaster. But the talented young Scottish player did not share his excitement with his school friends because he thought it would be boasting.
Maroroa Jones ultimately shared second place with 17-year-old Shreyas Royal, the youngest British player ever to achieve the grandmaster title. Royal, who had begun the event as the 15th seed, completed the tournament undefeated. His final-round victory over Maciej Czopor enabled him to climb into joint second place.
Shreyas Royal playing black against Daniel Young in round one | Photo: Ife Olayinka
In the women's competition, three players finished tied for first and were declared co-winners of the British Women's Rapidplay Championship 2026.
Trisha Kanyamarala of Ireland, Harriet Hunt and Bodhana Sivanandan - the latter two from England - each scored 8/11 points. Kanyamarala had entered the final round with a half-point lead but drew her game, while both Hunt and Sivanandan secured wins in the closing round to catch up. Notably, Bodhana completed the event without agreeing to a single draw.
11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan continued her great run from the last couple of months | Photo: Ife Olayinka
In round eight, Gawain Maroroa Jones faced Jan Murawski (1-0) while Michael Adams faced Supratit Banerjee on the top boards | Photo: Ife Olayinka
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FM | Waldhausen Gordon, Frederick | 2276 | 9,5 | 0 | |
| 2 | GM | Maroroa Jones, Gawain | 2745 | 9 | 0 | |
| 3 | GM | Royal, Shreyas | 2361 | 9 | 0 | |
| 4 | IM | Han, Yichen | 2520 | 8,5 | 0 | |
| 5 | FM | Banerjee, Supratit | 2322 | 8,5 | 0 | |
| 6 | IM | Mahadevan, Siva | 2309 | 8,5 | 0 | |
| 7 | GM | Gasanov, Eldar | 2437 | 8 | 0 | |
| 8 | WIM | Kanyamarala, Trisha | 2397 | 8 | 0 | |
| 9 | IM | Czopor, Maciej | 2380 | 8 | 0 | |
| 10 | Bowcott-Terry, Finlay | 2357 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 11 | IM | Kanyamarala, Tarun | 2309 | 8 | 0 | |
| 12 | IM | Hunt, Harriet V | 2275 | 8 | 0 | |
| 13 | FM | Shearsby, Jude | 2209 | 8 | 0 | |
| 14 | WIM | Sivanandan, Bodhana | 2189 | 8 | 0 | |
| 15 | GM | Adams, Michael | 2681 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 16 | GM | Gormally, Daniel W | 2604 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 17 | FM | Badacsonyi, Stanley | 2528 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 18 | IM | Roberson, Peter T | 2415 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 19 | GM | Hebden, Mark L | 2389 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 20 | IM | Buckley, Graeme N | 2317 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 21 | IM | Jackson, James P | 2308 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 22 | Quaite, Toby | 2286 | 7,5 | 0 | ||
| 23 | FM | Khoury, Theo | 2278 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 24 | CM | Dasgupta, Avyukt | 2214 | 7,5 | 0 | |
| 25 | Bathula, Abhinav Reddy | 2191 | 7,5 | 0 |
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