Bodhana Sivanandan
CountryEngland
Born2015 (age 8–9)
TitleWoman Candidate Master (2023)[1]
Peak rating1857 (December 2023)

Bodhana Sivanandan (born 2015)[1] is an English chess player from Harrow, London. She holds the title of Woman Candidate Master.

She attends St John Fisher primary school in Harrow.[2][3]

Chess career

Sivanandan began playing chess during lockdown in 2020. In 2022 she said "I love to play chess because it helps me to recognise patterns, focus my attention and is helping me to learn how to strategise and calculate moves in advance. Also, I like the way the chess pieces move on the board, especially the knight."[4]

In March 2022, 15 months after learning the game, Sivanandan was described by Leonard Barden as "exceptional". He wrote "Bodhana Sivanandan, who won silver medals in both the rapid and blitz European under-8 girls, is world No 1 girl in blitz in her age group by a whopping margin of 322 Fide points" and "Sivanandan's medals in Serbia match Houska's fifth place on her debut in the 1988 world girls U10".[2]

In the European Schools age group championships held in Rhodes in May 2022, Sivandan won all 24 games she played and gained three gold medals.[5]

At the age of seven, Sivandan took part in the August 2022 British Chess Championship in Torquay. Leonard Barden, writing in The Guardian, described her play in the Open Rapid competition as "an eye-catching performance": she was the youngest contestant, and after two wins and a draw she defeated the current U12 champion, before being defeated by grandmaster Keith Arkell who said "I won only because of her inexperience".[6]

In 2023 she won the World Youth Chess Championship Under-8 Girls' category.

At the age of eight, Sivanandan scored 8.5/13 in the 2023 European Blitz chess championship in December 2023;[7][8][9] earlier in 2023 she defeated former British chess champion Peter Lee in an exhibition match.[7]

International Master Lawrence Trent wrote on Twitter in 2023: "The maturity of her play, her sublime touch, it's truly breath taking. ... I have no doubt she will be England's greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen".[9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Profile: Sivanandan, Bodhana". International Chess Federation (FIDE). Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  2. 1 2 Barden, Leonard (18 March 2022). "Chess: Rapport closes in on Candidates as six-year-old steals show at Blackpool". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Home". www.stjohnfisherschool.co.uk. St John Fisher Catholic Primary School. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Hill, Amelia (8 July 2022). "Rachel Reeves hopes chess festival can be opening gambit for children's futures". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ↑ Barden, Leonard (6 May 2022). "Chess: England children sweep gold medals and world titles in Rhodes". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Barden, Leonard (19 August 2022). "Chess: Bodhana Sivanandan, seven, shines at British Championships". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  7. 1 2 Barden, Leonard (18 December 2023). "Aged just eight, Bodhana Sivanandan enters chess history". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Katie Gibbons (19 December 2023). "How British schoolgirl, 8, became chess queen of Europe". The Times. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  9. 1 2 Samantha Jagger (20 December 2023). "London chess prodigy, 8, wins title at European championships". BBC News. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
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