Coventry Chess Academy

25/05/2026

The sun has been shining on local chess quite literally of late and on Saturday we were back in the spotlight again! The Coventry Chess Academy’s good friend and acclaimed chess author and journalist, Ben ‘Greenbecker’ Graff, organised a chess master simultaneous in nearby Kenilworth along with English Chess Federation Manager for Chess in Prisons, Carl Portman MBE who is well-known for his inspiring work teaching chess behind bars. The man delivering the simultaneous was one of England’s strongest and most respected chess players, International Master Richard Palliser. With the aid of a CCA demo-board, he delivered a fascinating lecture on creativity in chess, appropriately using the games of a Warwickshire chess legend and England’s first Grandmaster, Tony Miles,🥰 followed by a 30-board-simultaneous. Also in attendance was the Mayor of Kenilworth Alison Insley who also made the ceremonial first move of the event, choosing 1.Nf3 much to Richard’s approval! The strength of the master prevailed on the vast majority of boards, but a special mention must be given to our very own ‘King/Coach/Curator/Arbiter/Legend’ Gregory Kornilovich! He battled valiantly for over five hours before being ground down in the endgame, but still impressed Richard enough to win the ‘Player of the Day’ award.😃

Well done Gregory👏 and many thanks to Ben, Carl and Richard for a fantastic event!☺️♟️

11/05/2026

We are absolutely delighted to announce that our very own Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla has made yet more Coventry Chess Academy history! Anish has been selected to play for ENGLAND🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿♟️ in the upcoming WORLD Cadets Cup🌍♟️🏆 taking place in Batumi, Georgia!!🇬🇪 Wowowow!👏👏👏😍 He joins over a dozen current or former CCA members who have achieved this distinction and, at the age of just SIX years, he is the youngest ever from our club to do so.😲

Anish, who currently tops ECF standard and rapid rating lists for his national age group, recently became the youngest CCA member to play and win a match in the Leamington & District Chess League. He regularly beats experienced adult club players in both standardplay and rapidplay time limits, including the recent Birmingham Rapidplay in which he won second place, becoming the youngest ever CCA member to finish on the prizelist in this tournament. He has also been one of the stars of the Warwickshire junior chess squad that has achieved such great success this season, including in the J4NCL and EPSCA.🔥🔥🔥 Moreover, Anish is a very popular club member, known for his cracking sense of humour,😃 and is simply one of the nicest people out there in a club full of them.

CCA Director Paul Lam said ‘I have known Anish since he was barely five years old and his rise since joining our club has been simply meteoric. Not only is he tremendously talented, his hard work and commitment have been truly outstanding and there are few players who show more determination over the board. Playing up an age group is always challenging, even more so when it's against the world's best, but I’m confident that all these qualities will stand him in good stead in Georgia. Congratulations Anish for this call-up, it's such a well-deserved honour and we’re all so proud of you!’👏👏👏

10/05/2026

It was great to see everyone at another very enjoyable Coventry Chess Academy session yesterday!😃 4NCL Fireworks, Roy Back On The Rampage and Another Knightmare were all on the chess menu. It was brilliant to see the one-and-only Coach Steve ‘Topsy’ Turvey back from South Africa as well as a guest appearance from Candidate Master Javi ‘The Man of La Mancha’ Valdepenas🇪🇸. The star of the show was however our very own Woman FIDE Master ‘Extraordinary’ Elis Dicen who presented her destructive win last weekend against FIDE Master Dave Ledger🔥 along with CCA Director Paul Lam.

There were a couple of notable absentees, but they all had a more-than-valid excuse, namely that they were competing in the nearby Leamington Open. ‘King/Coach/Curator/Arbiter/Legend’ Gregory Kornilovich chose to play in the Major section for the first time and he scored 2/5 which included his best win to date by beating a 1893-rated opponent. Moreover, he should have scored 3/5 as he was also completely winning against a 1900+ opponent before tragically blundering. In the Minor section, there were two very creditable performances from six-year-old CCA phenoms (and great friends!) Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla and Riyaan ‘The Baby-faced Assassin’ Garnsworthy who scored 2.5/5 and 2/5 respectively which included draws and wins against higher-rated and vastly more experienced adult opponents.😮

The final word goes to our deadly girl duo of ‘Super’ Shrisha Tarihalkar and ‘Awesome’ Anvi Prabhakaran. Shrisha had yet another excellent performance, showing why she is not just Warwickshire’s top U9 chess playing girl but one of the very best her age in the whole country. She scored 3.5/5, performing hundreds of points above her rating yet again, beating all the adult opponents she faced.🔥 Her only defeat came to her clubmate Anvi, Warwickshire’s top U11 girl. Anvi produced a fantastic performance to score an unbeaten 4/5 to share FIRST place in the tournament and take home a meaty cash prize.🥇💷 What a player!😍

The icing on the cake came when the results for the 2026 Warwickshire Chess Championship🐻♟️ were announced, as this weekend’s tournament was the final in the series of events to determine the county’s top dog. Finlay Bowcott-Terry, no longer a junior but still very much part of the CCA family and one of the heroes of the Warwickshire Select 4NCL this season, became a two-time Warwickshire Chess Champion.🏆 And remarkably, Shrisha’s result ensured that she took home the title of Warwickshire WOMEN’S Chess Champion.🏆😲😍 She is the youngest person since the aforementioned Elis to achieve this distinction, so Shrisha is in fine company!

Congratulations to all our members who played this weekend, we’re proud of you all!👏👏👏

04/05/2026

It was great to see everyone at another very enjoyable Coventry Chess Academy session on Saturday!😃 Members’ instructive moments from the 4NCL Congress, Roy’s Ravaging and Lady of the Board were all on the chess menu and, as usual, there were some fantastic contributions and worksheets. Some very good play was produced during training games and the coaches did not have it all their own way! ‘Super’ Shrisha Tarihalkar gave David Phillips a really good game, while James ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer-Brown put Roy Watson to the sword. ‘King/Coach/Curator/Arbiter/Legend’ Gregory Kornilovich once again led a group and did a fantastic job while club legend Anuj Chitre was an excellent assistant.

Although Roy may have lost to young James, the ‘Baddest Great Grandpa on the Planet’ had reason to celebrate, albeit for non-chess reasons. Roy is a man of many hats, one of which is that he is an extremely talented sculptor! He was pleased to inform all that his work has been selected for an upcoming exhibition taking place over summer!😁 Roy is of course good friends with professional artist and beloved CCA Life Coach Bernard Charnley, who was keen to encourage his fellow veteran’s talents. Bernard now resides in the south west and recently showed local chess players that he remains a very dangerous opponent, as he approaches his 80th year nonetheless. He WON the Bath Chess Club Championship with a perfect 6/6 and many of the 40 plus participants were rated 1900-2000!😍 Well done Bernard!👏

Good friends Riyaan ‘The Baby-faced Assassin’ Garnsworthy and Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla were two notable absentees, but they had a very good excuse as they were playing in the Shropshire Megafinal. The boys mowed through the opposition until, inevitably, they were paired against each. A tactical mistake saw Anish drop material and Riyaan converted his advantage in fine fashion to win. Riyaan finished the tournament as U8 Champion with 6/6🥇 and Anish a very worthy runner-up.🥈 Then in the U10 section our very own Aariyan 'The Machine' Mandair also won with a perfect 6/6 score!🥇 All three march onto the next stage of the competition, the Gigafinal. Well done boys!👏

Once the CCA session on Saturday had finished, there was no rest for the wicked as CCA Director Paul had to head straight for the train station for a most usual assignment, namely collecting his good friend since childhood, FIDE Master Li Wu! With the final three rounds of the 4NCL Chess, the British national chess league, taking place over the bank holiday weekend and Warwickshire Select facing a top flight relegation battle without the services of FIDE Master Jude Shearsby due to GCSE studies,😢 the Coventry chess legend answered the call❤️ despite barely having time to find his feet after a work trip in Japan!

Round 9 saw Warwickshire paired with the very strong Wood Green Youth who outrated ‘The Bears’ on all board bar one. Given this, a 4-4 draw was a terrific result for Warwickshire. There were big wins in particular for our very own Woman FIDE Master Elis Dicen, who crushed FIDE Master Conor O’Donnell with a kingside attack🔥🔥🔥, and on the other end of the age spectrum International Master, Coventry chess legend and a great friend of our club, Chris Baker. Chris was completely winning against Woman Grandmaster Katarzyna Toma after she blundered badly in the opening, but with time pressure looming he simplified his material advantage into a drawn king and pawn endgame. It was endgame expert Li however who pointed out that it still presented chances to go wrong a la Firouzja – Carlsen and so it proved!

In round 10, Warwickshire faced fellow relegation strugglers Blackthorne and lost a very tight battle 3.5-4.5, though Elis won again and in even more blistering fashion. Facing experienced FIDE Master Dave Ledger, she blew him off the board in just 23 moves!🔥🔥🔥 Li was doing well and pushing hard against fellow FIDE Master Laurence Webb, but once it got to an opposite-coloured-bishop ending his extra pawn meant very little and he had to settle for a draw.

It meant that Warwickshire entered round 11 needing to at least draw against a youthful and very talented Oxford side to guarantee they would stay in the top flight for the first ever in their history. The latter were just as desperate to avoid the drop and with the additional motivation of avenging their 1-7 loss to Warwickshire last season, a result which no-one saw coming. It was a lot more competitive this time, but once the smoke had cleared it was ‘The Bears’ who emerged on top again, this time by a score of 5-3. The winners were our very own Candidate Master Billy ‘The Kid’ Fellowes, our club’s good friend Candidate Master Javi ‘The Man of La Mancha’ Valdepenas and FIDE Master Lorenzo Fava who has been a points machine for the team and should be earning a well-deserved IM norm.👏 There were draws for Elis, another member of the CCA family, Finlay Bowcott-Terry, against young FIDE Master Kenneth Hobson in a very exciting game, and for Li against fellow junior talent Candidate Master Jan Murawski (in more sedate fashion). And special mentions must also go to Warwickshire’s top board International Master Siva Mahadeva and Warwickshire’s youngest FIDE Master Adithya Vaidyanathan who also played this weekend and have been absolutely vital team members throughout the season.

So, for the first time ever, Warwickshire Select will be enjoying successive seasons in the top flight of British chess, much to the delight of the whole squad and its tireless manager, Mark Page. Then, to add icing to the cake, Warwickshire’s 2nd team gained promotion to division 2! Woohoo!🥳🥳🥳🥳

Congratulations everyone, we’re so proud of you all!👏👏👏👏🐻♟️

26/04/2026

The U9 EPSCA Final took place this weekend and a large number of Coventry Chess Academy members were in action representing Warwickshire. In the Minor Final, there was a magnificent performance from Warwickshire B who won outright with a perfect score of 4/4!🥇 The team included our very own Alex ‘Hack ‘Em’ Rackham (3/4 on board 12) and Alex ‘The Maverick’ Vuscan-Palade (A magnificent 4/4 on board 3).🔥

In the Major Final, we were even better represented. In fact, the top five boards were all CCA members, with Jason ‘You Know’ Hu on top board (An unbeaten 3.5/5) followed by ‘Super’ Shrisha Tarihalkar (3.5/5), Aariyan ‘The Machine’ Mandair (4/5), Ollie ‘Hack ‘Em’ Rackham (2/5), and Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla (3.5/5). Moreover, Riyaan ‘The Baby-Faced Assassin’, one of the youngest members of the team, was on board 8 and he showed his worth by scoring a fantastic and unbeaten 4/5.🔥 It meant that Warwickshire finished THIRD🥉 in the Major Final.

CCA Director and Warwickshire Junior Chess Squad Head Coach Paul Lam said ‘This is Warwickshire’s best result in the U9 competition since 2018 (a team that featured the likes of Jude ‘The Juggernaut’ Shearsby, ‘Extraordinary’ Elis Dicen and Billy ‘The Kid’ Fellowes🤠 who all of course became titled players!). Considering the number of counties in England (all of our members will know many there are), this is a truly magnificent achievement and it was done with a purely home-grown squad. Huge thanks must go to the tireless Alex Holowczak, FIDE Master Nick Thomas AKA ‘The Dean of Warwickshire Junior Chess’, our very own 'Dynamite' Diah Patel and mum Dipal for doing a great job as arbiters and all the parents for their support. Above all, huge thanks to the players for their valiant efforts in the competition, we’re so proud of you. You’re ‘Simply The Bears’ for us!'🐻♟️👏👏👏

21/04/2026

Yet another slice of Coventry Chess Academy history was made last night! The one-and-only Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla became, at the age of SIX years, the YOUNGEST player ever to make his debut in the Leamington & District Chess League, beating the record previously held by Candidate Master Billy Fellowes.😲 He played for Kenilworth D against Leamington C in a match which also featured a CCA arbiters top board clash between ‘King/Coach/Curator/Arbiter/Legend’ Gregory Kornilovich (a veteran relatively speaking!) and ‘Awesome’ Anvi Prabhakaran (still in primary school!). Gregory was on top after a miscalculation from Anvi in the opening, but the latter resourcefully generated a dangerous kingside attack which Gregory succumbed to under time pressure. Roy ‘The Baddest Great Grandpa on the Planet’ Watson also won his game on board 2, though in far more pedestrian style than his junior counterparts! CCA Director Paul Lam made a very rare appearance at the match, rushing over from work for the occasion. Any fears that his dinner🍽️ would be delayed though proved to be unfounded. An unmitigated massacre unfolded on board 4 and, unfortunately for Anish’s experienced and higher rated adult opponent, it was his blood that was spilt…in copious amounts.🩸🩸🩸

Congratulations Anish!👏👏👏

19/04/2026

It was great to see everyone back at the Coventry Chess Academy yesterday!😃 A very warm welcome to our new members, we hope you enjoyed the experience!😊 The ABC of responding to threats, ‘Is it safe?’ and Paul’s Puzzle were on the chess menu and were devoured with great enthusiasm by members. In fact, Jason ‘You Know’ Hu swallowed Paul’s Puzzle alive😮, when many players in division 2 of the local chess league would still be scratching their heads today. Thankfully, the CCA Director had anticipated the possibility and ‘Play like a 2000 - Paul’s student’s masterpiece’ proved not only very instructive but a much tougher nut to crack! Some splendid training games were played and not all the coaches had it their own way. King/Coach/Curator/Arbiter/Legend Gregory Kornilovich has already overtaken Roy ‘The Baddest Great Grandpa on the Planet’ Watson, but it shouldn’t have been as easy as he made it look.😬 David Phillips, who is not only a 2100+ player but a former CCA star himself, was given the fright of his life😱 by Jason, but his experience came to the fore and saved him, while Jason will take away the lesson that having a luxury of choices is a mixed blessing sometimes!

‘Awesome’ Anvi Prabhakaran, ‘Super’ Shrisha Tarihalkar and Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla were notable absentees, but all had good excuses. Anvi and Shrisha were playing for Warwickshire🐻 in the EPSCA Girls’ Major Final and did brilliantly; Anvi scored 4/4 on top board and Shrisha scored 3/4 on second board against some very good opponents.🔥🔥🔥 Anish was in Nottingham on both Saturday and Sunday for the standardplay congress taking place there. The CCA’s SIX-year-old phenom, who made history last weekend at the Birmingham Rapidplay, showed he also plays a mean game at a much longer time limit as he scored 3/5 in the Minor section. All of his opponents were rated over 1400 and four of them were experienced adult club players.😮

Then today, a large number of members were in action in the Birmingham Megafinal of the UK Schools Chess Challenge, one of the UK’s most prestigious junior chess tournaments.🇬🇧♟️ With FIDE Master Jude Shearsby🏆, Woman FIDE Master Elis Dicen🏆 and Candidate Master Billy Fellowes🏆 all being past TERAFINAL WINNERS, our club has a great pedigree in this event and both the younger and older generation shone.

In the U8 section, Alex ‘Hack ‘em’ Rackham qualified for the Gigafinal with a fine 4/6. In the U10 section it was pure CCA domination as Jason and Shrisha shared first place, with Alex ‘The Maverick’ Vuscan-Palade sharing second place with Oliver ‘The Wizard’ Wong. Ollie ‘Hack ‘em’ Rackham, Ansh ‘Vishy’ Anand and Lukas ‘The Nuke’ Neophtou also qualified for the Gigafinal from the same section. Anvi was the top girl in the U12 section and qualified for the Gigafinal, as did Ayden ‘The Surgeon’ Sukri and ‘Deadly’ Divith Puppala AKA ‘The Silent Assassin’.🤫 In the U14 section, ‘Dynamite’ Diah Patel finished in joint second and was also the top girl. She will be joined in the Gigafinal by Peter ‘The Lexicon’ Li who scored a tremendous 4/6 and performed nearly 400 points above his rating. The last word goes to the one-and-only Woman FIDE Master ‘Extraordinary’ Elis Dicen who showed her class to win the U18 section comfortable and qualify for the Gigafinal for the umpteenth time (so many that we’ve stopped keeping a record!). More icing on the cake came at the prize-giving as members of the Warwickshire Bears Junior 4NCL Chess side🐻♟️ coached by Paul received their well deserved trophies for the season.😊

This weekend also saw a 24-Hour Chess Marathon organised by the English Chess Federation to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support in honour of the late IM Adam Hunt and GM Jonathan Hawkins. Thousands of pounds were raised for this very worthy cause❤️ and if you tuned in to watch you would have recognised one of the commentators, none other than our very own Jude 'The Juggernaut' Shearsby!

Congratulations to all our members for their performances this weekend, we’re so proud of you all!👏👏👏

12/04/2026

We are delighted to report on more amazing results for Coventry Chess Academy members! The latest edition of the popular Birmingham Rapidplay took place today and the CCA Army was out in force. A special mention must go to the club’s good friend Finlay Bowcott-Terry. One of Warwickshire’s finest showed exactly why that is the case by winning the Open forthe umpteenth time, half a point ahead of International Master Peter Large. Jason ‘You Know’ Hu was not quite at his all-conquering best, but Warwickshire’s top U9 player still scored a very creditable 2.5/7 against some strong and experienced opponents in the Major section. In the Inter section, there was an outstanding performance from ‘Awesome’ Anvi Prabhakaran, who lest we forget is still in primary school. She finished in joint-second with 5.5/7🥈💷, taking home a share of the prize fund, much to the joy of her Mum Kiruthika who was present as one of the arbiters and did another excellent job.😊 The Minor section saw the biggest turnout of CCA members and yet more club history being made. ‘Deadly’ Divith Puppala played in his first ever adult chess tournament and scored 2/7. Ollie ‘Hack ’em’ Rackham and Aariyan ‘The Machine’ Mandair both scored a creditable 3/7. Riyaan ‘The Baby Faced Assassin’ Garnsworthy scored a terrific 4/7 (finishing ahead of his Dad Rob 'Garnzilla' Garnsworthy who scored 2/7!) and may well be the youngest person ever to finish on a plus score in the Birmingham Rapidplay as he is still only FIVE years old.😮😮😮 Handuo ‘The Hitman’ Cao scored an excellent 5/7 in a big eight-way-tie for third place.🥉

The final word goes to the one-and-only Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla. He scored a magnificent 6/7 for outright second place,🥈💷 becoming the YOUNGEST CCA member in HISTORY to finish on the prize-list in the Birmingham Rapidplay as he is still only SIX years old!😲😲😲 One of his most remarkable pairings was in round 1 against Shirley’s Kim Gilbert who was born the year the SECOND WORLD WAR ended,😲😲😲 meaning three quarters of a century separated the two combatants! Not only did Anish win, he also gained sweet revenge for Coach Roy ‘The World’s Most Energetic Great Grandpa’ Watson👴 who lost to Kim🙈🤦 in a recent local league match.😁

Congratulations to all our members for today's performances, we're so proud of you all!👏👏👏

Then in other news, CCA Director Paul Lam's appearance at Coventry City FC's recent win against Derby County on behalf of the English Chess Federation along with CCA Asst. Director Andy Ward and CCA superstars Billy, Elis and Riyaan has caught the attention of FIDE - International Chess Federation! Check it out at

Representatives from the English Chess Federation, including National Master Paul Lam and Andy Ward of the Coventry Chess Academy, engaged fans ahead of kickoff, introducing the game to supporters of all ages.

05/04/2026

It was a great day for some of the Coventry Chess Academy’s superstars at Coventry City FC on Friday! For the first time, chess was a feature of the CCFC Fan Zone pre-match.😃⚽️♟️ The CCA Director and Asst. Director, National Master Paul Lam and Andy ‘Fire On’ Ward, were in attendance on behalf of our club and the English Chess Federation to promote chess in the city and the upcoming British Chess Championships🇬🇧♟️ which will take place in Coventry later this year. They were accompanied by our homegrown chess masters, Woman FIDE Master ‘Extraordinary’ Elis Dicen (aged fifteen) and Candidate Master Billy ‘The Kid’ Fellowes (aged fourteen), as well as rising star Riyaan ‘The Baby-faced Assassin’ Garnsworthy (aged five) who dazzled the public with their skills. Everything had an amazing time and we were blown away by just how much interest was shown and the positive vibes we got.🥰 Thank you to everyone who came to speak with us and even have a game, it was great to meet you! Above all, a big thank you to Coventry City FC for the opportunity! The icing on the cake came at the end of the day when the Sky Blues took a monumental step towards promotion with a thrilling 3-2 win against Derby County😁🥳🥳🥳 while football-mad CCA supporters cheered on from the stands!👏👏👏 PUSB!

30/03/2026

It was another action-packed weekend of chess for the Coventry Chess Academy’s intrepid members! Riyaan ‘The Baby-Faced Assassin’ Garnsworthy, still just five years old (!!), made the trip down to Milton Keynes to play day 1 of the U1600 FIDE Chess Congress. This was Riyaan’s second ever adult standardplay chess tournament and he performed very well to score 1.5/3 which including drawing with and beating two opponents rated over 1400+.😮 Coach Roy ‘The World’s Most Energetic Great-Grandpa’ Watson really needs to watch his back!👴 Jason ‘You Know’ Hu also played in the U1900 section and scored a very creditable 2.5/5, performing hundreds of points above his rating.

Meanwhile, back home in Coventry, the final weekend of the Junior 4NCL Chess, the children’s wing of the British national chess league,🇬🇧♟️ was taking place and CCA Director Paul Lam was once more present with his Warwickshire Head Coach cap on. There was a decent CCA presence, with Zain ‘The Brain’ Amir, ‘Awesome’ Anvi Prabhakaran, ‘King/Curator/Coach/Arbiter/Legend’ Gregory Kornilovich, ‘Dynamo’ Dominic Pugaciauskas, ‘Super’ Shrisha Tarihalkar, Aariyan ‘The Machine’ Mandair and Anish ‘The Beast’ Bijibilla were all selected to play for the mighty Warwickshire Bears🐻 Squad, split into A, B and Cubs teams.

All three teams did themselves proud with their performances. The Bears A team finished third in division 1 and the B team finished second in division 2, with the Cubs finishing a very creditable 5th (out of 12 teams). A special mention must go to Arthur McCumiskey AKA ‘Little Mac’, who although not a CCA member is a hugely valued member of the junior county side and one of Warwickshire’s most promising young players. He made dad Andrew AKA ‘Super Mac’ proud by playing what Paul declared as the combination of the season😍, hands down. Zain, who recently scored his best win to date by beating Candidate Master (and former UKIP General Secretary) Jonathan Arnott😲, played the most mature, assured chess of anyone in the squad. The big hitter for the weekend was also the squad’s youngest player, Anish, who scored a fantastic unbeaten 5/5😮🔥🔥🔥 as his star continues to rise and rise.⭐️

A big well done to everyone, we’re proud of you all!👏👏👏