Shreyas Royal (born 9 January 2009) is an English chessgrandmaster. A chess prodigy, he became a grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 7 months, making him the youngest English player to achieve the title.
Early life and education
Shreyas was born in Bangalore, India and moved to Woolwich, South East London at the age of 3 when his father Jitendra Singh was offered a job as an IT project manager. Singh's visa was due to expire in September 2018, but he was granted a new work visa one month prior, allowing the family to stay and Royal to continue playing chess in England.[3] On a scholarship, Royal attended the Pointer School in Blackheath.[4]
In 2021 Royal became England's youngest International Master.[2]
In November 2022, he scored his first GM norm at the Bavarian Open in Tegernsee, Germany.[6] In doing so, he broke the record for being the youngest English player to earn a GM norm.[7][8]
Royal competed in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023.[9] At the event, he won the first round against the higher-rated Jaime Santos Latasa, who was rated 2650 (whereas Royal was rated 2407). Shreyas also defeated Vahap Şanal in Round 7, rated 2603 at the time of the game.[10] Royal finished with 4.5/11 points in the tournament, with a performance rating of 2574.[11][12]
In December 2023, Royal played in the London Chess Classic, scoring 4/9 points and obtaining his second GM norm.[13]
Royal achieved his third and final GM norm at the age of 15 in August 2024, after finishing in sixth place at the British Chess Championship. With this, Royal became the youngest British grandmaster in history, beating David Howell's record by 6 months.[14]
