The mathematician Euclid once boldly informed King Ptolemy Soter I of Egypt that there was no royal road to geometry. However, a royal road to a UK visa does exist and it has just been granted to the family of nine-year-old prodigy Shreyas Royal, by means of the intervention of the Home Secretary himself.
A vigorous campaign has been in train for most of this year to prevent the Royal family from being deported in September. This included a charitable programme of chess tuition implemented by the experienced junior coach Julian Simpole, whose former pupils included Luke McShane and David Howell. Shreyas has been invited to make the ceremonial first move in the forthcoming World Championship match set for London in November, and all who have campaigned for this happy result may now celebrate and hope that his initial promise will blossom into a successful career on the chessboard.
This week’s game was given in extract form in my column of 11 August. Here is the full story.
Royal-Jayawarna: ECF Major Open, Hull 2018
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nge2 I played a modest role in Julian’s lessons by recommending some games for the prodigy to study. This line against the King’s Indian is, in fact, one of my personal favourites. 5 … 0-0 6 Ng3 e5 7 d5 c6 8 Be2 In the game Keene-Lauri, Malta 1985, I tried 8 h4. 8 … a6 9 dxc6 An interesting decision. I would prefer 9 h4 or possibly 9 Be3. 9 … bxc6 A decent alternative is 9 … Nxc6 since the presence of the white knight on g3 makes d4 ripe for a black invasion. 10 Bg5 h6 11 Be3 Qc7 12 Qd2 h5 13 0-0 (see diagram 1) 13 … Be6 Missing the point of his own play.
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