An eight-year-old Indian-British schoolgirl has made chess history after being named the best female player at a European championship.
Bodhana Sivanandan, from Harrow in north-west London, won the European Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, last Sunday.
She went head-to-head with some of the best players in the world and defeated an international master to win her crown.
“Eight-year-old super talented Bodhana Sivanandan made an astonishing result in the blitz competition. She scored 8.5 out of 13 points to win the first prize and earn 211.2 blitz ELO points,” said the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships.
A few months ago, Bodhana was among a group of young chess enthusiasts invited by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to 10 Downing Street to mark the government’s 1-million pound investment package for the game.
The package has since been in place to support children attending schools in disadvantaged areas across England to learn and play chess.
The tournament was played in blitz format – a quick form of chess where players have just minutes on their clocks for their moves.
English Chess Federation (ECF) chairman Stephen Woodhouse said: “There are three types of timings in a chess game – standard, rapid play and blitz. A blitz game usually varies from three to five minutes, so it’s very quick.”
Praise for the chess prodigy has since been pouring in on social media, with leading professionals highlighting her “unbelievable” performance.
Bodhana, who began playing aged five, said she was “proud” of her performance. Asked if she gets nervous, she replied: “No, I just play the board.”
Romanian International Master Irina Bulmaga, one of the players Bodhana finished ahead of, wrote on X that it was an “unbelievable result” and added “what a phenomenon she is”.
ECF president Dominic Lawson described it as an “extraordinary result for an eight-year-old and something we’ve certainly never seen in this country”.
“She has a remarkably mature playing style, it’s strategic and patient. She has what you might describe as a long game,” he said.
British International Master and commentator Lawrence Trent described Bodhana as “one of the greatest talents I’ve witnessed in recent memory”.
“The maturity of her play, her sublime touch, it’s truly breathtaking,” he said. “I have no doubt she will be England’s greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen.”
Indo-Asian News Service
