Indian-origin British schoolgirl Bodhana Sivanandan has made chess history at just 11, becoming the youngest player ever to earn the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title.
Representing England at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Sivanandan secured her third and final WGM norm, completing the requirements for the title. She played all 11 rounds on England’s top board and finished the Olympiad with eight points. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) confirmed her record-breaking achievement.
Sivanandan, who lives with her family in Harrow, north-west London, had already crossed the 2,300 rating requirement for the WGM title. Her final norm at the Olympiad allowed her to surpass the previous age record, held by Kateryna Lagno, who became a Woman Grandmaster at 12. China’s Hou Yifan also achieved the WGM title at 12.
Her rise in chess has been remarkably rapid. Sivanandan first encountered the game during the COVID-19 lockdown and began learning largely on her own. She entered her first tournament at Harrow Chess Club in 2021 and subsequently recorded a series of notable results in youth and international competitions.
At the 2022 European Schools Championship, she won all 24 of her games. She later became the youngest person to avoid defeat against a Grandmaster in a competitive game and, at nine, was selected for England’s team at the 2024 Chess Olympiad in Budapest, becoming the youngest person to represent England internationally in any sport, according to reports.
Her record-breaking run continued in 2025 when, aged 10, she defeated Grandmaster Peter Wells at the British Chess Championships. Earlier this year, she also earned her first International Master (IM) norm at the Dole Open in France.
Sivanandan added another major achievement in August when she became Britain’s youngest-ever Women’s Chess Champion at the 2026 British Chess Championships. She won the title after a rapid-chess playoff against Ireland’s 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala.
Despite her increasingly demanding international chess schedule, Sivanandan continues to attend school full-time. Speaking to FIDE after securing the WGM title, she said she wanted to keep playing and “keep making history”, while also describing how travelling for tournaments and continuing her education complement each other.
Her latest achievement also comes with another significant milestone: Sivanandan earned a second IM norm at the Olympiad, taking her another step towards the open International Master title. The IM and GM titles are open to players of any gender, while WGM is one of FIDE’s women’s titles.
The youngest player ever to earn the open Grandmaster (GM) title remains Indian-origin American Abhimanyu Mishra, who achieved the feat at 12 years, four months and 25 days in June 2021. FIDE records Mishra’s achievement as the youngest GM title in chess history.
For Sivanandan, however, the focus appears to be on what comes next. At 11, she has already established a new record in women’s chess while continuing to pursue the higher open titles that remain ahead of her.
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