A British schoolgirl was crowned the best female player at a European chess tournament at just eight years old.
Bodhana Sivanandan beat a master more than 30 years older than her to win her title at the European rapid and blitz championship in Zagreb, Croatia, over the weekend.
The little girl, from Harrow in north west London, beat 39-year-old Lorin D'Costa, who is England’s women’s coach, in the penultimate round.
She then went on to draw with the two-time Romanian champion Vladislav Nevednichy, who is 54 years old.
She delivered a 5/11 result with a 2056 performance in the rapid round, but her performance in the 13-round blitz is being spoken about by fellow players.
The president of the English Chess Federation, Dominic Lawson, told The Times Bodhana’s performance at the speed chess event was “completely remarkable but not that surprising - because she is a phenomenon”.
He also wrote on X, formally known as Twitter: “Bodhana Sivanandan is one of the greatest talents I've witnessed in recent memory. The maturity of her play, her sublime touch, it's truly breathtaking.
“I have no doubt she will be England's greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen.”
Bodhana’s father Sivanandan Velayutham told the BBC’s Today Programme how she started playing chess “accidentally” during the pandemic, initially teaching herself with YouTube videos.
He said: “She was curious and interested, so I started taking her around the English Chess Federation and the people in England who play chess and support chess; they are very friendly and very supportive.”
Bodhana said she was proud of herself.
She has spoken of her ambition to become a grandmaster and England’s youngest Olympic gold medallist, and eventually to win a world title.
This summer, she was invited to 10 Downing Street and played chess with Rishi Sunak, before the government announced it was to invest £1m in the game to increase the number of English grandmasters.
