Archive · 10 Aug 2026

11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan becomes Britain's youngest Women's Chess Champion

11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan becomes Britain's youngest Women's Chess Champion

An 11-year-old girl named Bodhana Sivanandan just became the youngest girl to ever win Britain's big chess championship for women.

Chess is a board game where two players carefully move pieces to capture each other's king.

Bodhana played in a huge tournament in the city of Coventry with more than 2,600 players.

During the whole tournament, she only lost one single game.

In the final tie-breaker, she beat a 14-year-old player from Ireland named Trisha Kanyamarala.

Before Bodhana, the youngest winner of this title was 13 years old.

Now Bodhana is also one of the top 100 women chess players in the whole world.

She won something called a triple crown, meaning she is champion in three different chess formats.

Grown-up chess experts call her a 'generational talent,' and people are amazed that someone so young can be so good.

Sources