Adams suffers first British Championship defeat since 1988, losing to Bazakutsa in round four

Michael Adams, the 54-year-old Taunton grandmaster, lost in round four of the 2026 British Championship at the University of Warwick in Coventry when he resigned a lost rook endgame after 60 moves to 18-year-old Svyatoslav Bazakutsa, who lives in Liverpool. The defeat ended an 87-game unbeaten run in classical British Championship play during which Adams had won all nine of his titles.

Adams has claimed nine British titles, one fewer than Jonathan Penrose’s record, having missed many championships in the 1990s and 2000s while campaigning for the world crown. His unbeaten sequence included his 1989 victory when he became the youngest ever winner at 17, a record the report says still stands, and later triumphs in 1997, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018 (when he won 3-1 in a playoff with Luke McShane which included a rapidplay loss), 2019, 2023 and 2025.

The 108-player 2026 British Championship carries a total prize fund of £34,000 and is scheduled to finish on Sunday at the University of Warwick in Coventry. The event has seen a strong youth presence: after the fifth round five of the eight leaders were under-21 and four of those were still under-18.

Eleven-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan beat GM Ameet Ghasi in Tuesday’s fourth round for the fourth time in her fledgling career, a victory the report said was her most impressive yet and was rated 99% accurate by one computer evaluation; she finished the game with the tactic 33…Nxe2! and was interviewed for the live commentary immediately after the win by GM Nick Pert. The piece suggests Sivanandan’s performance “arguably deserves recognition as the female equivalent of Bobby Fischer’s 1956 Game of the Century against Donald Byrne,” noting Fischer’s concept 17…Be6!! and contrasting that with Sivanandan’s use of a more complex strategy while two years younger than Fischer was in 1956.

In the sixth round on Thursday the frontrunners Bazakutsa and Harry Grieve agreed a quiet draw. Luke McShane, after gradually outplaying Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, missed a chance on move 36 to reach a winning endgame via an elementary tactic but eventually won a marathon game that lasted 119 moves.

Shreyas Royal came well prepared against Sivanandan’s favourite anti‑Sicilian 3 Bb5 and was an hour ahead on the clock after 16 moves; the report states that Black’s pressure eventually told and he converted a material advantage. With three weekend rounds remaining the leaders sit on 5/6: Bazakutsa (Ukraine), Grieve, Adams, McShane and Royal.

Trailing on 4.5/6 are Marcus Harvey, Peter Roberson, Simon Williams, Maciej Czopor (Poland), Siva Mahadevan (India), Stephen Gordon and Tarun Kanyamarala (Ireland). The report adds that the chances of a tied championship and a playoff on Sunday have visibly increased and includes an engine line: "4036: 1 Rg1! wins. If 1…Qd7 2 Rh3+! gxh3 3 Qh6+ Kg8 4 gxh3+ Kf7 5 Rg7+ Ke8 6 Rxd7 and wins."

There are three rounds remaining before the championship concludes on Sunday at the University of Warwick in Coventry, with the possibility of a tied finish and a playoff now described as more likely.