British prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan becomes youngest Woman Grandmaster

British chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan, aged 11, has become the youngest player in history to earn the Woman Grandmaster title, the International Chess Federation has confirmed. Sivanandan secured her third and final Woman Grandmaster norm while representing England at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. She played all 11 rounds on England’s top board, a position given to the team’s leading player, and finished the event with eight points.

The schoolgirl had already exceeded the rating requirement of 2,300 before obtaining her final norm. Her achievement surpassed the previous record, jointly held by Kateryna Lagno and Hou Yifan, who both earned the title at 12. Sivanandan told FIDE that she was pleased with the milestone but wanted to continue setting records.

She also earned her second International Master norm at the Olympiad. The higher title is open to players of both sexes and normally requires three qualifying norms and a rating of at least 2,400. Her rise began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she taught herself to play chess.

She entered her first tournament at Harrow Chess Club in July 2021 and later won all 24 of her games at the European Schools Championship. In 2023, she drew with a grandmaster in Croatia. Sivanandan represented England at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest at nine, becoming the youngest person to represent England internationally in any sport, according to the English Chess Federation.

Last year she became the youngest female player to defeat a grandmaster. She said chess remained appealing because it allowed her to travel and connected with her education.