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An extraordinary achievement has been made by an 11-year-old chess player from the UK, who has become the youngest ever to earn the prestigious Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. Bodhana Sivanandan, hailing from north-west London, reached this milestone after securing her third and final WGM norm—a formal indicator of title-level performance—while competing for England at the 46th Chess Olympiad held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, as confirmed by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Sivanandan has been making waves in the chess world for some time. Already recognized as Britain’s youngest women’s chess champion, she also holds the distinction of being the youngest individual to represent England at an international level across any sport. During the Olympiad, Sivanandan played on England’s top board, a spot reserved for the team’s strongest player, completing all 11 rounds and earning eight points. Before clinching her final WGM norm, she had already surpassed the rating requirement of 2300, a key criteria for attaining the Woman Grandmaster status.
In a conversation with FIDE, Sivanandan expressed her delight with the accomplishment but emphasized her desire to continue progressing: “I’m happy to do it, but I want to keep going and keep making history as well, instead of just stopping here.” Her achievement breaks the record previously held by Kateryna Lagno, who had earned the WGM title at age 12, and joins the ranks of notable prodigies such as China’s Hou Yifan, who also became a Woman Grandmaster at 12 and later, at 14, the youngest to receive the full Grandmaster title, which is open to all genders. The WGM title is the highest exclusively female chess rank and is awarded for life.
Beyond her WGM success, Sivanandan is also on track to achieve the International Master (IM) title, a rank open to all players and considered higher than the woman-only titles. At the Olympiad, she earned her second IM norm, moving closer to the three norms and a minimum rating of 2400 required to secure the IM title. Reflecting on her passion for chess, she mentioned to FIDE how the game complements her education, saying, “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 rapid rise in the chess scene has astonished even her family. Bodhana’s father, Siva, told the BBC he was unsure where her exceptional talent stemmed from, as neither he nor his wife, both of whom have engineering backgrounds, are skilled in chess. The young player began learning the game independently during the coronavirus lockdown, entering her first competition at Harrow Chess Club in July 2021. Remarkably, by age seven, she had won every game she played at the European Schools Championship. In 2023, she made headlines by becoming the youngest competitor to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a tournament at the European Rapid and Blitz Championship in Croatia. The following year, at nine years old, she became England’s youngest ever international sports representative by playing at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
Last year, at the age of ten, she defeated grandmaster Peter Wells at the British Chess Championships, becoming the youngest female to best a grandmaster. Continuing her trailblazing journey, earlier this year she secured her first International Master norm at the Dole Open in France, at just 11 years and four months old. During that event, she also defeated grandmaster Marc’Andria Maurizzi, becoming the youngest girl known to have beaten a player rated over 2600 in a classical game. Bodhana Sivanandan’s swift ascent in the chess world showcases her extraordinary talent and dedication to the game
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