Historic Chess Grandmaster Record
Eleven-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan becomes the youngest Woman Grandmaster in chess history
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Bodhana Sivanandan, an 11-year-old from Harrow, England, became the youngest player to earn the Woman Grandmaster title after securing her third and final qualifying norm while representing England at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. She scored eight points in 11 games on England’s top board and had already met the title’s required rating threshold. Sivanandan broke the age record held by Kateryna Lagno, who earned the title at 12; she also has two International Master norms as she progresses toward that higher, open title.
Key Points
1
Sivanandan first encountered chess at age five, after a family friend gave her family an old chess set. Her father, who knew only the basics, taught her how the pieces moved; no one in the family had played competitive chess.
2
After learning more through YouTube tutorials, she entered her first tournament at Harrow Chess Club in July 2021. At the European Schools Championship in May 2022, she won all 24 of her matches and took three gold medals.
3
Grandmaster Danny Gormally called Sivanandan “unbelievable” and “a generational talent” while commentating for the English Chess Federation; Rachel Reeves also congratulated her publicly on X.
4
Sivanandan also plays violin and piano and balances those interests with her schoolwork, according to one account of her rapid rise.
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