Bodhana Sivanandan, at 11, is the strongest female chess player in the UK.

Bodhana Sivanandan discovered the squares around the age of 5, during the 2020 lockdown, when he started playing to pass the time with his parents, who had emigrated from Tamil Nadu and settled in Harrow, in the north-west di London.

But his talent came out immediately, and already a few years later, his career began. di champion International. In 2022, at just 7 years old, Bodhana participated in the European School Championships in Rhodes. The result was incredible: she won all 24 matches, winning three gold medals.

In 2023 it became champion Under-8 World Championship in three disciplines: classical, rapid, and blitz. According to his career reconstructions, that year he won 32 out of 32 matches in world tournaments. di category.

In 2024, at the age of 9, Bodhana became the world number 1 among the under-10 girls. In the same year she was called up to the English women's team at the 2020 Olympics. squares di Budapest: A remarkable achievement, as he became the youngest person ever selected for an England national team in any sport.

At the age of 10, she earned a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm, becoming the youngest player to do so; shortly thereafter, at the British Championship, she defeated grandmaster Peter Wells, then in his sixties. She was the youngest girl in history to beat a GM in a classical match. That victory also allowed her di complete the requirements for the title di Woman International Master (WIM).

In October 2025, at the age of ten, she also defeated Mariya Muzychuk, former champion women's world champion and Ukrainian grandmaster.