Bodhana Sivanandan, British Chess Prodigy With Indian Roots Breaks Record, Becomes Youngest To Defeat A Grandmaster

At the last round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool on Sunday, 10-year-old British girl Bodhana Sivanandan, who has Indian ancestry, made history by defeating Grandmaster Peter Wells. She defeated a grandmaster, making her the youngest female chess player in history. 

At the age of ten years, Bodhana broke the record that had been held by American Carissa Yip since 2019, when she first defeated a grandmaster at the age of ten years. Bodhana, a Woman FIDE Master, was born and raised in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, until her father, Sivanandan Velayutham, an IT worker, relocated the family to London in 2007. 

Despite being young, Bodhana has already established herself as the face of British chess. She was born and raised in London. In August 2023, when she was eight years old, then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even asked her to 10 Downing Street to unveil a funding package for chess in the UK.

She enters chess halls with a religious vibhuti streaked on her forehead and a little bindi. She only responds with one sentence and doesn't talk much. In order to reach the opposite side of the board, she frequently carries a cushioned seat with her to support herself on a chair.

However, once Bodhana gets into the game, her talent for positional chess and end-game mastery, which appear to have been passed down from that legendary José Raúl Capablanca, can defeat giants. When Bodhana was only five years old, she began playing chess. “We didn't want to force her to play chess”, Sivanandan Velayutham, Bodhana's father, told that last year his daughter had just "stumbled across a chess board at home and started to play." 

Bodhana's Records: 

Bodhana has been shattering records and creating news for the past few years. She has already taken home three global junior championships. Her triumph over the 60-year-old Wells, however, sent shockwaves through British chess circles.  

In the end, Bodhana's title of Woman FIDE Master is at least five steps below the grandmaster title, which is the highest ranking in chess, and Wells is still playing chess. She was able to obtain the last "norm" she required to advance and obtain the Women's International Master title thanks to the event.

Bodhana was in difficulty in the middle game against a player with Wells' expertise, therefore her victory was somewhat unexpected as well. By the 19th move, both of Wells' ominous knights had begun to advance on her king, and black clouds of danger were hovering over her pieces.  By the 26th move, she was staring at defeat. On move 37, she was once more fighting a losing cause after a brief reprieve.

However, it only took three moves to turn the game around and force Wells to resign.

“How in the world did she win? She must be a magician of some sort”, during the live broadcast feed, Danny Gormally, the expert commentator for the English Chess Federation, apparently made a statement. Remarkably given her age, Bodhana finished joint 26th in the open event and earned 24 rating points during the competition.  

She could have easily swept the titles in her divisions, such as U12, if she had decided to compete in the age group events. She enjoys playing basic positional maneuvers. Later in the game, though, she usually outperforms her opponents. 

Gormally commented, "Her play has a hint of Magnus Carlsen or the great Jose Raul Capablanca." Unsurprisingly, one of her favorite players is Capablanca, but Carlsen, who has emerged as a role model for the majority of new prodigies, barely comes in third on her list.

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