By Maria Cusine

A Shropshire schoolboy is making his move to become Britain's brightest young chess player. Stuart Graham, seven, of Bayston Hill near Shrewsbury, could become the next Garry Kasparov if his winning streak continues. Stuart, a pupil at Kingsland Grange School in Shrewsbury has won his place through to the London final of the 1999 Saitek UK Chess Challenge. He beat off stiff competition when he won the UK Chess Challenge under-seven championship. He now goes on to the final, covering all the boy and girl age groups at the Mind Sports Olympiad in London on August 28. Held in eight age groups, from seven to 18, each school or club produced qualifiers for the stage two heats where thousands of children played in 19 regional megafinals. A record 35,000 children entered the biggest chess tournament ever and Stuart is now one of the final 16 potential grandmasters of the future. Having won the under-seven title Stuart now joins the seven other age group winners to find the ultimate winner of the UK Chess Challenge. The youngster, who has represented Shropshire at under nine, 11 and 14 levels and won the British Under Seven Junior Squad Championships twice, took up chess around two years ago.