Princess’s gambit: At 11, Bodhana Sivanandan is an international master
11-year-old British-Indian chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest female player to qualify for the International Master title. She achieved this milestone by breaking a 38-year-old record previously held by Judit Polgar.
Why it matters
Sivanandan's achievement highlights a significant shift in competitive chess, marking her as a generational talent in a sport historically dominated by older players.
LONDON: Bodhana Sivanandan, an 11-year-old BritishIndian chess prodigy of Tamil origin, has added another string to her bow by becoming the youngest female chess player to qualify for the International Master (IM) title.Sivanandan, who lives in the London suburb of Harrow, broke the 38-year-old record held by Hungarian chess legend Judit Polgar, widely regarded as the greatest female player in chess history, after winning her final-round game at the European Women’s Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro on Friday.Sivanandan secured her third and final IM norm at the tournament and crossed the required live rating threshold of 2400, completing the conditions for the IM title, the secondhighest open title in chess.‘Bodhana is a generational talent’Polgar had qualified at the age of 12 in 1988 and went on to become a top-10 player in the world, famously competing against the very best male grandmasters.Bodhana Sivanandan recovered from an opening-round defeat against…
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