Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ is at the centre of a chess riddle after claims she was a British schoolgirl champion were put in check.
For years the politician has revelled in being a real life pawn star like the main character in telly show The Queen’s Gambit played by actress Anya Taylor-Joy.
Rachel told how she had to beat the best boys to battle her way to the top after her dad taught her the game at seven.
READ MORE: British girl, 3, dies after falling into swimming pool ‘without parents realising’ in Spain
Click for more of the latest news from across the world from the Daily Star.
Biographers trumpeted the fact she was British girls’ under-14 champion.
(Image: Getty Images)
But now records have emerged showing she did not win the U14 championship in 1993 – and actually finished 26th.
Composer Emily Howard beat her on the way to being crowned the nation’s chess princess.
One observer of the game said: “So – not a champion. Reeves was beaten by the actual Under 14 Champion, the composer Emily Howard.
“Maybe whoever first said she was a champion was thinking of a different tournament – which wouldn’t be the officially recognised one.
“Ask any child chess prodigy and they’ll tell you that playing in a championship and winning a championship title aren’t quite the same thing.’”
Rachel has told how her mastery of the board has helped her in politics.
She told X: “My dad taught me how to play chess at the age of 7 and since then I’ve had the chess bug.
“Chess has taught me so many things are useful in politics from being strategic to giving me that competitive streak.”
Sky News’ biography of her following her appointment as Britain’s first female chancellor said her “competitive streak can also be found in her love of chess”.
“She later became the British girls under-14 champion,” it went on.
The BBC’s economics editor and Newsnight presenter Faisal Islam wrote in July: “Rachel Reeves’ favourite chess move is the Sicilian Defence.
“It’s an opening move designed to open up the board for later in the game – and one the chancellor used often as a junior chess champion. It’s `particularly good when you want to go on the attack,” she suggests.
“Growing up Reeves was driven around the country by her parents to compete and beat privately educated boys, often as the only state school-educated girl.
“The story has echoes of the fictitious chess prodigy Beth Harmon – the lead character in Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit, of which Reeves is a fan – playing out entire imaginary chess games on her bedroom ceiling, several moves ahead.
“At No 11, Reeves is now applying the mathematics of constantly changing trade-offs to running the country’s economy.’”
The records show Rachel, 45, was no chess chump.
She came 19th in the Under-12s in 1990 and 29th in the Under-13s the following year.
But her “champion” status has been debunked.
Fans leapt to her defence on X claiming she had won another championship run by a now-extinct body.
“She won the under-14’s Girls tournament organised by the now defunct Women’s Chess Association,’” wrote one.
Rachel herself remained tight-lipped.
Offered the chance to clarify her status the Treasury failed to respond to a request for comment.