In Rhodes, Greece, a 10‑year‑old chess star from London shattered expectations by knocking off the former world champion Mariya Muzychuk. Bodhana Sivanandan, who was born in London to Indian parents, made the upset during the European Club Cup on Sunday.
Sivanandan, a Woman FIDE Master since 2024, has been breaking records all summer. In July, she became the youngest player ever to earn a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm, beating the old benchmark set by Hou Yifan at 11 back in 2005. Now, at barely ten years old, she is the youngest to defeat a former women’s world champion.
“Every week she’s beating a GM,” said English Grandmaster Danny Gormally. Grandmaster David Howell called the win “incredible,” highlighting how rare it is for a child to beat a 33‑year‑old, 2,485‑rated world‑number‑13 player. Susan Polgar, a former women’s world champ herself, praised Sivanandan’s impressive play.
Sivanandan plays for the She Plays to Win Lionesses squad, which finished 12th overall after a 3‑1 loss to Turkish Airlines in Round 1. Still, her victory over Muzychuk will live on as a shining moment of the tournament.
The 10‑year‑old’s rise has been meteoric. Earlier this year, she became the youngest female chess player ever to beat a grandmaster when she defeated 60‑year‑old Peter Wells in the final round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool. That win also earned her the final norm needed for the Woman International Master (WIM) title, setting a new record that beat Carissa Yip’s 2019 mark by more than six months.
In 2024, Sivanandan was selected to represent England at the Chess Olympiad in Hungary, becoming the youngest person ever to play for an English sport national team. Her teammates and coaches see her as part of a bright new generation of English chess talent, alongside players like GM Shreyas Royal and FMs Supratit Banerjee and Ethan Pang.
For anyone following women’s chess, Bodhana Sivanandan’s name is now etched among the sport’s rising stars, proving that age is no barrier to breaking world records on the 64‑square board.
Source: ianslive
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