A 10-year-old From Uk Is Youngest Female To Defeat A Grandmasters

A 10-year-old British woman from London has made chess history by becoming nan youngest female subordinate ever to hit a grandmaster, earning nan title of female world master.

Bodhana Sivanandan, from northwest London, defeated 60-year-old grandmaster Pete Wells successful nan last information of nan 2025 British Chess Championships successful Liverpool connected Sunday, August 9. At only 10 years, 5 months and 3 days, Sivanandan collapsed nan grounds group by American Carissa Yip, who was 10 years, 11 months and 20 days aged erstwhile she defeated a expansive maestro successful 2019, according to nan International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Sivanandan is now an world master, 1 level beneath nan female-exclusive female grandmaster title; nan highest title successful chess is grandmaster, owned by nan likes of existent world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, CNN reported. Sivanandan said she picked up nan athletics during nan COVID pandemic erstwhile she was five, aft 1 of her dad’s friends talented them immoderate toys and books.

Chess makes her consciousness good

“In 1 of nan bags, I saw a chessboard, and I was willing successful nan pieces,” she told nan BBC. “I wanted to usage nan pieces arsenic toys. Instead, my dada said that I could play nan game, and past I started from there.” She says chess makes her consciousness “good” and helps her pinch “lots of different things for illustration maths, really to calculate”.

Her dada told nan BBC successful 2024 that “nobody astatine all” successful their family had antecedently excelled astatine chess. He besides said he had nary thought wherever his girl sewage her talent from, arsenic neither he nor his wife, some engineering graduates, is immoderate bully astatine chess.

In 2024, Bodhana was thought to person go nan youngest personification ever to correspond England internationally successful immoderate athletics erstwhile she was selected for England Women’s Team astatine nan Chess Olympiad successful Hungary, nan BBC added.