The British Chess Championships have run in an almost unbroken series since the first British in 1904, which was played in Hastings and won by William Ewart Napier as British Chess Champion and Kate Finn as British Women’s Champion. Leicester player H E Atkins won the second event in 1905, and for many years held the record for the most championship title wins – nine wins from eleven appearances between 1905 and 1925. He was eventually overtaken by Jonathan Penrose who won the championship 10 times in 12 years between 1958 and 1969. Of those players still competing, the player with most wins is Michael Adams, currently on 8. WGM and IM Jovanka Houska holds the record for the most British Women’s title wins, with a total of 9 wins between 2008 and 2019. 

You can find out more about the history of the British Chess Championships in the Wikipedia article here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Chess_Championship – and please refer to the excellent Britbase for a comprehesive collection of BCC games going back to 1904 here – https://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/

Pictures from Wikipedia and Brendan O’Gorman