British schoolgirl Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest female chess grandmaster at just 11.
The Londoner secured the title at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, scoring eight points from 11 games. FIDE confirmed her title after she achieved her third and final grandmaster norm, demonstrating performance at the required elite level.
Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves congratulated Sivanandan on X, calling her a “chess superstar”. The previous record was held by Kateryna Lagno and Hou Yifan, who both earned the title at 12.
Hou Yifan later became the youngest woman to earn the full grandmaster title at 14 in 2008. Sivanandan must first become an international master before pursuing the grandmaster title, though she has already been described as a “generational talent”.
She discovered chess during the pandemic after finding a discarded chessboard at a family friend’s home in Harrow. Her father, Sivandan Velayutham, taught her the basics, but she soon began beating him after improving through YouTube tutorials.
Alongside chess, Sivanandan plays the violin and piano and keeps up with her studies. Earlier this year, she became Britain’s youngest Women’s Chess Champion after defeating Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala in a rapid-chess playoff.
Grandmaster Danny Gormally praised her as a “generational talent”. Her only loss came against fellow prodigy Shreyas Royal, 17, who won the overall British Championship and became Britain’s youngest grandmaster in 2024.
Sivanandan began competing at Harrow Chess Club in 2021, aged seven. In 2022, she won all 24 games at the European Schools Championship, claiming three gold medals. She later became the youngest player to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive match.
