Demis Hassabis Backed Shreyas Royal's Bid For British Chess TitleAt just seventeen, Shreyas Royal has made history by becoming Britain's youngest chess champion. With the backing of Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google DeepMind, his ascent in the chess community is remarkable. He previously earned his grandmaster title at the impressive age of fifteen years and seven months. Furthermore, Bodhana Sivanandan, a fellow player of Indian descent, took home the women's championship, highlighting a new era for British chess.Shreyas Royal finished half a point clear of Luke McShane and Michael Adams at the University of Warwick on 9 August 2026, becoming the youngest British Chess Champion in the tournament's 112-year history. He is 17. Within hours, Demis Hassabis — Google DeepMind co-founder, chair, and former child chess prodigy — posted on X that he was "happy to have played a small part in supporting your journey to the top." The sponsorship, first disclosed in March 2023, had stayed private. Its public admission now reveals an unusual partnership between Britain's most powerful AI researcher and its most gifted young chess player.How did a visa crisis almost end Shreyas Royal's British career at nine?About The AuthorAt heart, I am a storyteller drawn to the watershed moments that bend the technology landscape. I braid narrative with data, humanise statistics, and trace the arc from first spark to world-changing impact. My reportage, features and reviews are witty, sardonic, visual and vivid, using anecdote to illuminate rather than eviscerate.