Gawain Jones and Elmira Mirzoeva Take the English Titles
By Cameron W. · Thu, 05 Nov 2026
Gawain Jones wins the English Championship unbeaten ahead of Michael Adams, and Elmira Mirzoeva takes the women’s title. Both add blitz crowns.
Some rivalries are best described as a long game of tag. Since 2023, according to ChessBase, the English Championship has passed back and forth between Michael Adams and Gawain Jones, and in Peterborough it was Jones's turn again. The 38-year-old grandmaster won the open section unbeaten, while Elmira Mirzoeva took the women's title, and then both of them added the blitz crowns for good measure.
Jones stays ahead of the pack
The English Championships ran from October 24 to November 1, with the main events played over nine rounds. Jones, the top seed, scored 7.5/9 with six wins and three draws, according to ChessBase, which reports that this is his fourth English title. His first came in 2012, shared with Stephen Gordon. His third, according to Leonard Barden in The Guardian, was in 2024, when he beat Adams in a speed playoff.
Adams, the second seed, was also unbeaten and finished a point behind on 6.5, along with Brandon Clarke and Daniel Gormally. The two leaders met in round five and drew. ChessBase counts seven English titles for Adams since 2007. The Week in Chess confirms the standings at the top of the table.
There were some memorable personal performances further down. ChessBase lists Owen Crawford, a national master, among the players on 6 points, with a rating gain of more than 41 points, and Gormally with a gain of nearly 19. In the Blitz Championship on the final day, Jones won with 12/15, a point ahead of Livio Cancedda-Dupuis, according to The Week in Chess.
Mirzoeva's second title
In the women's section, Mirzoeva, a woman grandmaster, also scored 7.5/9, a point clear of Anusha Subramanian on 6.5. ChessBase notes that this is her second English title after 2024, when she won a speed playoff against Katarzyna Toma, and the 2024 result is confirmed by The Guardian. Subramanian gained 44 rating points on the way, and the top seed, Susan Lalic, finished third on 5.5 alongside Ruqayyah Rida and Lam Vy Le Nguyen, who gained more than 65 points.
Mirzoeva completed the double by winning the women's blitz championship on 12.5 points, ahead of Shambavi Hariharan on 12, The Week in Chess reports. One notable absence from the women's field was Bodhana Sivanandan, who ChessBase suggests may have been affected by the short gap after the European Club Cup, where she had played.
The rest of the weekend
The first two days of the festival were devoted to rapid chess. In the open rapid, Marcus Harvey and Jonah Willow tied on 9/11, and Harvey took the title after a tie-break. The two sources describe the tie-break differently, ChessBase as an Armageddon game and The Week in Chess as a match won 3-2, so the format is worth confirming. Sheila Jackson won the women's rapid with 9.5/11.
In the senior sections, Philip Crocker won the over-50 title with 6/7 and Ian Snape took the over-65 title with a perfect 7/7.
A thin top for English chess
ChessBase makes one sobering point. Jones, who is ranked 92nd in the world, is England's only active player in the top 100, according to its report. It is a reminder of how few English players currently sit near the top of the world list.
That is not to take anything away from Jones. An unbeaten nine-round title and a blitz crown on the last day is a strong weekend for any champion, and Peterborough showed that the tag game between him and Adams is far from over.
Sources
- ChessBase, "Gawain Maroroa Jones wins English Championship 2026" (Stefan Liebig, Nov 3, 2026)
- The Week in Chess, "English Open Championships 2026"
- The Guardian (Leonard Barden) via Yahoo Sports, "Chess: Jones and Mirzoeva win English championships as teenagers impress" (June 2024)
- FIDE, "Gawain Jones and Elmira Mirzoeva crowned English Chess Champions" (June 2024)
