Tuesday, September 29, 2026 - A British child chess prodigy has become the youngest player in history to earn the woman grandmaster (WGM) title at just 11 years old.
Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, from north-west London, secured her
third and final WGM norm, a certified title-level performance, while
representing England at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the
International Chess Federation (FIDE) confirmed.
Speaking to FIDE, Sivanandan said she was happy about the
achievement but wanted to "keep making history"
It is the latest milestone in a remarkable rise for the
schoolgirl, who has already become Britain's youngest women's chess champion
and the youngest person to represent England internationally in any sport
Sivanandan, from Harrow, played all 11 rounds on England's
top board - a position assigned to the team's top player - and finished the
tournament with eight points.
She had already passed the 2300 rating threshold required for the WGM
title before securing her third and final norm.
She told FIDE in an interview on Sunday about making
history: "I'm happy to do it, but I want to keep going and keep making
history as well, instead of just stopping here."
Kateryna Lagno, who has represented both Russia and Ukraine,
previously held the age record for the WGM title, having achieved it aged 12.
Hou Yifan, from China, also achieved the title at 12 and remains the youngest
woman to have earned the higher, open grandmaster (GM) title, which she
achieved aged 14.
Woman grandmaster is the highest women-only title a female
player can attain, and the rank is held for life.
Sivanandan's success in Samarkand also earned her a second
International Master (IM) norm, taking her another step towards the higher
title.
Players normally need three qualifying norms and a rating of
at least 2400 to become an international master. Sivanandan now has two IM
norms
The international master title, open to both sexes, ranks
higher than Sivanandan's current accolades - the woman grandmaster and woman
international master titles
Speaking to FIDE about her love of the game, she added:
"I like travelling and also because I do full-time school as well, it
links to loads of school subjects, so it's really useful there as well."
Her father Siva previously told the BBC he had no idea where
his daughter got her talent from as neither he or his wife, both engineering
graduates, are any good at chess
Her rise through chess has been rapid. After teaching
herself to play during the coronavirus lockdown, she entered her first
tournament at Harrow Chess Club in July 2021.
A year later, aged seven, she won all 24 of her games at the European
Schools Championship.
In 2023, she became the youngest person to avoid defeat
against a grandmaster in a competitive game at the European Rapid and Blitz
Championship in Croatia. The following year, aged nine, she was selected to
represent England at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
The English Chess Federation said that selection, when she
was nine, made her the youngest person to represent England internationally in
any sport.
Last year, aged 10, Sivanandan became the youngest female
player to defeat a grandmaster when she beat Peter Wells at the British Chess
Championships.
In July this year, she earned her first IM norm at the Dole
Open in France, becoming the youngest girl to achieve one, aged 11 years and
four months. She also defeated grandmaster Marc'Andria Maurizzi, becoming the
youngest girl known to beat a player rated above 2600 in a classical game.
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