British girl, 8, crowned best female player at European chess tournament

Bodhana Sivanandan, eight, from north west London, best female player at the European rapid and blitz championship in Zagreb, Croatia

Bodhana Sivanandan, eight, playing at the European chess Championships in Zagreb, Croatia at the weekend. (Luka Rifelj/ECU)

An eight-year-old British chess prodigy has been named best female player at the European rapid and blitz championship as she stunned crowds in  Zagreb, Croatia at the weekend.

Bodhana Sivanandan, eight, from Harrow, north west London, won against a field of highly experienced grandmasters, international masters and reigning chess champions, and came 73rd in a round of 555 players.

In the penultimate round, Bodhana beat her first international master, the England women’s coach, Lorin D’Costa, 39. The eight-year-old also drew with the two-time Romanian champion, grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy, 54, in the final round.

She became the youngest player to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday (20 December), Bodhana said: “I was very proud of myself when I got top girl in the European blitz.”

Bodhana’s father, Sivanandan Velayutham, said that she got into chess “accidentally”. During the coronavirus pandemic, she became curious about the sport after she found a chess board and pieces in a bag that had been gifted to her father.

“She’s trying her best. And it worked in favour of her [in the tournament],” her father said. “So it was a good thing that happened in Zagreb when we went for the European rapid and blitz event.

“Accidentally she started chess. She was curious and interested, so I started taking her around the English Chess Federation and the people in England who play chess and support chess; they are very friendly and very supportive,” he told the Today programme.

Asked if she had expected to win, she replied: “I always try my best to win all the tournaments, all the games. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Dominic Lawson, the president of the English Chess Federation, told The Times the performance at the speed chess event was “completely remarkable” but had not surprised crowds since Bodhana has recently established herself as a young chess “phenomenon”.

Lawson added: “It’s an extraordinary result for an eight-year-old and something we’ve certainly never seen in this country. She has a remarkably mature playing style, it’s strategic and patient. She has what you might describe as a long game.”

Bodhana has previously spoken about her ambition to become a grandmaster and England’s youngest Olympic gold medallist. She also has goals to eventually win a world title.

She is now considered among the best in the world for her age group.

In the summer, Bodhana was invited to 10 Downing Street and played chess with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, before the government announced its plans to invest £1m in the game in an attempt to increase the number of English grandmasters at the competitive chess level.