A British schoolgirl has become the youngest woman grandmaster in chess at just 11 years old.
Bodhana Sivanandan secured the title at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, after she won eight points across 11 games against some of the world’s best players.
The International Chess Federation confirmed the young Londoner’s new status after she earned her third and final ‘norm’ – an official certificate that showed a player performing at an elite level – which would qualify her for the title.
The remarkable achievement received personal felicitations from the former Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who wrote on X: ‘Huge congratulations Bodhana – a chess superstar and just 11 years old. So pleased to see you continue to progress.’
The youngest woman grandmaster title was previously held by Kateryna Lagno – who has played for both Ukraine and Russia – at aged 12 in 2002 and Hou Yifan from China, also 12, in 2007.
Ms Yifan went on to be the youngest woman to earn the full grandmaster title at 14 in 2008.
Ms Sivanandan, described as a ‘generational talent’, must progress to international master before she can attempt the title of grandmaster, although some experts already predict she will become Britain’s greatest ever player.
The child prodigy discovered the game during the pandemic when she found a chessboard in a bag of discarded items left by a family friend in her home in Harrow, north London.
Her IT-worker father, Sivandan Velayutham, taught her the basic rules but she soon began beating him when she expanded her skills through YouTube tutorials.
Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest woman grandmaster in chess at just 11 years old and some experts predict she will become Britain’s greatest ever player
Alongside her passion for chess, Ms Sivanandan plays both the violin and the piano, which must be balanced with her academic work.
Earlier this summer, Ms Sivanandan became Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s Chess Champion, breaking a record set by Elaine Pritchard in 1939 – who won the championship when she was just 13.
In a tense, rapid-chess playoff between the top female players, Bodhana defeated Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala, a hugely promising talent herself and the first Irishwoman to hold the Woman Grandmaster title.
Grandmaster Danny Gormally, commentating on the event for the English Chess Federation, said in the closing moments of the match: ‘Unreal! Bodhana, or Godhana as I call her has won. She is unbelievable, a generational talent.’
The new chess queen lost only to fellow child genius Shreyas Royal, 17, who went on to win the overall British championship.
He topped the table after nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of two of England’s more seasoned grandmasters, Luke McShane and nine-time champ Michael Adams.
The 17-year-old from south-east London became Britain’s youngest-ever grandmaster in 2024.
Ms Sivanandan first entered a tournament at the Harrow Chess Club in July 2021, but success came in 2022 when she entered the European Schools Championship in May 2022 aged seven. There, she won all of her 24 matches and won three golds.
From then, she started competing against players with decades more experience and became the youngest person to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game at the European Rapid and Blitz chess tournaments in Croatia.
