Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis backs 17-year-old Shreyas Royal's chess triumph

17-year-old Shreyas Royal has become the youngest winner of the British Chess Championship. But did you know that Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis played a role in Shreyas' journey?Demis Hassabis has supported Shreyas Royal for years as a sponsor. (Photo: Shreyasroyal.co.uk)On Sunday, Indian-origin Shreyas Royal won his first British Chess Championship title at just 17, making him the youngest to achieve this feat. Following Shreyas’ victory, his long-time sponsor, Google DeepMind co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis shared a special message.On X, Demis congratulated Shreyas Royal. The Google DeepMind co-founder claimed that he was happy to have helped Shreyas in his journey. “Huge congratulations Shreyas - youngest ever British chess champion at just 17! Happy to have played a small part in supporting your journey to the top,” he wrote. Demis Hassabis congratulated Shreyas Royal on X. Shreyas won the championship on Sunday after finishing half a point ahead of Grandmasters Luke McShane and nine-time champion Michael Adams. 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan became the youngest British Women's Chess Champion.Demis Hassabis has supported Shreyas for yearsTo give you some context of the bond between Shreyas and Demis, we need to first look at some background. You see, Shreyas Royal’s family faced financial and pressure in the UK to support his career. In March 2023, Shreyas publicly announced that Demis Hassabis had "come forward to sponsor my chess journey to be the UK's youngest GM.” Demis is a former chess prodigy himself. Later, Shreyas would recall that his father, Jitendra Singh, had managed to get in touch with the Google DeepMind co-founder to support his career.But this was not the first time the two had come in contact. In fact, Shreyas and Demis were paired for the Pro-Biz Cup, which opens the London Chess Classic, all the way back in 2018, when the Indian-origin prodigy was just 9 years old. Demis’ support has coincided with Shreyas' rise. Before winning the British Chess Championship, he became Britain's youngest-ever grandmaster at 15 years and 7 months in 2024.You should know that Demis Hassabis was once the world's second-highest-rated under-14 player behind Judit Polgar before moving into computer science and neuroscience and later founding DeepMind.He played for Cambridge in the Oxford-Cambridge varsity chess matches in 1995, 1996 and 1997 and won a half blue.In 2017, DeepMind released a paper on AlphaZero, its chess-playing AI that is said to have become the strongest chess entity in existence after only four hours of self-play. AlphaZero reportedly defeated Stockfish, the leading conventional chess engine, 28-0 in a 100-game match.- EndsPublished By: Armaan AgarwalPublished On: Aug 10, 2026 09:37 IST