British chess prodigy of Indian origin, Bodhana Sivanandan, has achieved yet another remarkable feat, becoming one of the youngest players ever to defeat a former world champion. The youngster accomplished this during the European Club Cup in Greece. The 10-year-old from North London pulled off a stunning result by defeating Ukraine’s former Women’s champion, Grandmaster Mariya Muzychuk, at the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece.
Born in London in 2015 to parents who moved from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, she became a Woman Fide Master in 2024. In July 2025, at age 10, she achieved the status of the youngest chess player to earn a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm; the previous record holder was Hou Yifan, who accomplished it as an 11-year-old in 2005. Last week, The schoolgirl took up chess during lockdown and earlier this year became the youngest female player in history to beat a grandmaster - the highest title a player can attain. However, victory over Mariya Muzychuk was a step up from any previous win. The 33-year-old Ukrainian grandmaster has twice won her national championships and in 2015 she became the women’s world chess champion. Muzychuk has a much higher rating than her opponent, Bodhana. Daniel Gormally, a chess grandmaster who runs a YouTube channel described the win as a “sensational upset”, with Muzychuk “in her prime.” He added: “She [Bodhana] seems to be beating a grandmaster every week now. English chess has been in the doldrums for so long. We’ve had good players coming through, don’t get me wrong, but we haven’t had great players. Now we have players coming through who are actually quite exciting.”
David Howell, England’s No 1 grandmaster and the Times chess columnist, called it an “incredible win”. He added: “It’s not every day a ten-year-old defeats a grandmaster and former world champion in such style.” Asked about her victory, Bodhana said: “I’m happy to win but hopefully I do even better in the future games ... This will inspire me to keep doing better and trying harder to win more games.”
