A schoolboy has won a £65,000 scholarship to a top public school - to play chess.

Rhys Cumming will soon be saying goodbye to his friends at Brighton College Prep School and packing his bags for Millfield School in Somerset.

The 12-year-old has won a scholarship worth 50 per cent of the fees for five years at the £24,000-a-year boarding school, one of the few in the country to have a full-time chess teacher.

The youngster, from Sackville Road in Hove, is a member of the England under 14s and Sussex under 13s squad.

He won the Sussex under 13 grand prix at a tournament in Worthing on Saturday.

Rhys will start school in September and is the first boy to be awarded the scholarship.

He said: "I'm looking forward to going because boarding sounds like fun and they play a lot of sport.

"I like playing chess but I don't know if I want to be professional. I haven't thought that far ahead.

"It has helped my concentration because games can take hours.

"I have learned a lot of moves in chess, so I've become good at memorising things."

Although Rhys practises for hours a day leading up to tournaments, he prefers playing cricket and football with his friends when at home.

Rhys started playing aged five after his mother, Andrea, 44, encouraged him to join an after-school club.

She said: "He got into chess by accident. He was quite a shy child and I thought him playing against other children would be a good idea.

"I taught him the basic moves and he improved in leaps and bounds."

The mother-of-two said her son inherited his father's excellent memory which his helped his chess game.

She said: "His dad, who died when Rhys was three, had good concentration and spacial awareness. Rhys has got the same."

His headteacher at Brighton College Prep School, Brian Melia, wished his star pupil the best of luck.

He said: "It has been a real privilege to have a national chess champion with us.

"He has handled his scholarship and star status with typical modesty."

Scholarships are usually offered to those who show academic, sporting or musical excellence.

Millfield offers the chess scholarship to demonstrate its commitment to the new Charities Act, which requires independent schools to earn their tax breaks by showing they benefit the wider public.

At Millfield, Rhys will have two one-hour sessions of coaching a week as well as practice time.

He was given the scholarship after wowing Millfield's resident Grand Master, Matthew Turner.

Mr Turner said: "When assessing candidates for the award, I'm looking for a very logical approach and I want to observe how they solve puzzles."