Highlights:
- Harrow’s Bodhana Sivanandan becomes the youngest ever to earn the woman international master title.
- Defeated a chess grandmaster at the 2025 British Chess Championship aged 10 years, 5 months, 3 days.
- First learned chess during the Covid-19 lockdown at age five.
- Selected for England Women’s Team at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Hungary.
A 10-year-old chess prodigy from north-west London has made history by becoming the youngest person to achieve the woman international master (WIM) title. Bodhana Sivanandan from Harrow also became the youngest female player to defeat a grandmaster, achieving the feat at the 2025 British Chess Championship earlier this month.
Record-breaking win
The International Chess Federation confirmed that Bodhana beat 60-year-old Grandmaster Peter Wells in the final round of the championships in Liverpool. At 10 years, five months and three days old, she surpassed the previous record set in 2019 by American Carissa Yip, who was 10 years, 11 months and 20 days.
Grandmaster is the highest possible chess title, held for life, while the WIM title is the second-highest title awarded exclusively to women, behind woman grandmaster.
Rapid rise in the game
Bodhana began playing chess at the age of five during the Covid-19 lockdown. She discovered a chessboard among toys and books given to her family by a friend of her father, and her interest in the pieces led her to learn the game instead of using them as toys.
In 2024, she was selected for the England Women’s Team at the Chess Olympiad in Hungary, believed to be the youngest person ever to represent England internationally in any sport.
Family and support
Her father, Siva, an engineering graduate, said there was no history of chess ability in the family. “Nobody at all” in their extended family had played competitively. He expressed hope that Bodhana would continue to enjoy the game and perform well.
Future ambitions
Bodhana has set her sights on becoming a grandmaster and says chess makes her feel “good” and helps with skills like maths and calculation.
International chess master Malcolm Pein, who runs a charity introducing the game to hundreds of thousands of state school children, described her as “composed, modest and brilliant”, predicting she could become women’s world champion — or even overall world champion — in the future.
