Ten-year-old Indian Bodhana Sivanandan has won the title “Woman International Master” in chess. She is the youngest person ever to win the title and to defeat a grandmaster.
Bodhana, who is a British citizen and lives in London, began playing chess during the coronavirus crisis when she was only five years old.
— When it was 2020, it was Covid, so one of my dad’s friends was going back to India, and he had a few toys and books, and he gave them to us, Bodhana tells BBC. In one of the bags, I saw a chessboard, and I was interested in the pieces.
She began playing with the pieces, but her father explained that you could also play games with them. From the beginning, the girl showed talent for the game, something her father was amazed by since no one else in the family was particularly good at chess.
Defeated grandmaster
During the British championships, she defeated 60-year-old grandmaster Peter Wells, making her the youngest chess player ever to defeat a grandmaster. The previous record was held by American Carissa Yip, who achieved it in 2019.
With her victory against Wells, she also earned the title “Woman International Master” (WIM), which is the second-highest title for female chess players after Woman Grandmaster, which is the highest.
Bodhana says that chess makes her feel good and helps her with “many other things, like math and counting”. The ten-year-old’s goal is to become a grandmaster.
