British chess prodigy of Indian origin, Bodhana Sivanandan, has added a new record to her growing achievements. The 10-year-old has become one of the youngest players ever to defeat a former world champion. The feat came during the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece, where she defeated Ukraine’s former Women’s champion, Grandmaster Mariya Muzychuk.
Who is Bodhana Sivanandan?
Born in London in 2015 to parents from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, Bodhana became a Woman FIDE Master in 2024. In July 2025, she achieved the youngest-ever Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm, at age 10. With this she surpassed the previous record held by Hou Yifan, who was 11 in 2005.
Bodhana’s chess journey began during the 2020 lockdown when she was just five years old. At the time, one of her father’s friends gave the family some old belongings, including a chessboard. “I was interested in the pieces and wanted to use them as toys,” she recalled. Shortly after she mastered the gameplay.
Bondhana played her life’s first tournament in 2021. In March 2022, she won silver in the under-eight girls’ group at the European Youth Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. She was six at the time.
Earlier this year, she became the youngest female chess player to defeat a grandmaster. Bondhana made global headlines after beating 60-year-old Grandmaster Peter Wells in the British Chess Championships. That victory also gave her the final norm needed to become a Woman International Master (WIM), making her the youngest player ever to earn the title.
A historic win for Indian origin chess prodigy
On Sunday, Bodhana pulled off an unexpected victory against the 33-year-old Muzychuk, who has won her national championship twice and was the Women’s World Champion in 2015. Experts at the tournament described her performance as “near perfect,” especially since Muzychuk’s FIDE rating of 2485 was 280 points higher than Sivanandan’s 2205.
During a press conference after her win, Bodhana told The Sunday Times, “It was a great experience,” for her. The young chess prodigy has left the chess community in awe with her latest win. David Howell, England’s No. 1 grandmaster, described the win as “incredible,” adding, “It’s not every day a ten-year-old defeats a grandmaster and former world champion in such style.” When asked about her latest win, Bondhana told Sunday Times, “I’m happy to win, but hopefully I do even better in future games… This will inspire me to keep improving and trying harder to win more.”
Bodhana is now part of a promising new generation of English chess players, alongside GM Shreyas Royal, FM Supratit Banerjee, and FM Ethan Pang. “English chess has been in the doldrums for so many years,” said English chess grandmaster Daniel Gormally. “Now we suddenly have a generation of exciting young players. We don’t yet know how strong they’re going to be.”
