Meet Shreyas Royal, the boy who helped his family avoid deportation with his chess and is now UK’s youngest ever GM

Shreyas Royal wants D. Gukesh to win the upcoming World chess championship. If the Chennai teenager does that – he is most people’s favourite at the moment – Shreyas could tell his friends, “You know, I almost beat the World champion in classical chess when I was 14, and drew with him, at any rate.”

That happened at the London Chess Classic last December. It caught the chess world’s attention, of course. The larger world became aware of the Bengaluru-born Shreyas six years earlier, though.

His father Jitendra Singh’s work visa was about to expire and he was told that it could not be extended if he didn’t earn £ 120,000. But, Rachel Reeves, now Chancellor of the Exchequer (the first woman to be appointed for the post in the 800-year history of the British government), intervened, arguing that the country would have lost one of its brightest had Shreyas been deported.

The then home secretary Sajid Javid made a personal decision that allowed the family to stay under a new work visa. Shreyas repaid the UK’s faith in him. A couple of months ago, he became the country’s youngest ever Grandmaster, beating David Howell’s record by six months.

Howell is a commentator at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, where Shreyas was a guest and made the inaugural move for one of the matches. “I am glad that such a world class tournament has come to England, where the game needs much more support than it is getting now,” he told Sportstar.

“I hope this will help chess (which is not considered a sport in the UK) increase its popularity here. And it was a bit surreal to see some of my idols, including Viswanathan Anand at the venue.”

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Shreyas says British chess needs financial support badly. “Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had allocated some £500,000 last year for the development of chess but I think the new government has pulled out that funding,” he said. “It is a huge pity.”

He is looking forward to the World championship match between reigning champion Ding Liren and Gukesh. “Gukesh has been playing really well, and even if Ding recovers his form it will be hard for him to win the match,” he said. “Gukesh is a very confident, disciplined player. I hope he wins and then I could say I almost beat the World champion in a classical game when I was 14”.

(The correspondent is in London at the invitation of Tech Mahindra)