Bodhana Sivanandan becomes youngest female chess player to defeat grandmaster
British junior Bodhana Sivanandan beat 60-year-old grandmaster Peter Wells in the last round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool this week.
The International Chess Federation said Sivanandan's victory at 10 years, five months and three days beat the 2019 record held by American Carissa Yip, who defeated a grandmaster at 10 years, 11 months and 20 days.
In chess, grandmaster is the highest title given to a player. Once it is attained, the rank is held for life.
Sivanandan has now been given the woman international master rank, which is the sits as the second-highest rank given to women exclusively and is just behind woman grandmaster.
The young chess sensation told the BBC she hoped to achieve her ultimate goal and become a grandmaster.
Her father Siva said last year that the family was shocked at her chess ability because he and his wife were not good at chess.
Sivanandan victory over the grandmaster was not smooth sailing. Partway through the match it looked as though her opponent would comfortably win.
But some calm and calculated moves helped her overcome the tricky situation and win.
"How on earth did she win this? She must be some kind of magician," the English Chess Federation's commentator Danny Gormally said on the live stream.
"She likes to play simple positional moves … very solid player. But she tends to outplay her opponents later in the game," Mr Gormally added in his commentary.
"There's a touch of Magnus Carlsen or the great Jose Raul Capablanca about her play."
As director of Junior Chess, Tim Wall oversees the age group categories at the English Chess Federation. He said: "Bodhana is an inspiration to girls."
"The way she exudes calmness and maturity on the board … she clearly has a very strong work ethic," he said.
"She certainly has a very high ceiling."
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