An eight-year-old English chess prodigy was named best female players in a European chess championship in Croatia.
Bodhana Sivanandan faced off against numerous professional players, including international masters and grandmasters – the latter name given to the world’s best players – but took the title in blitz chess with a score of 8.5/13.
Blitz chess is the fastest form of the game, with games usually taking about five minutes to complete, as opposed to the traditional form where games can take significantly longer.
Irina Bulgama, an international master from Romania – who finished behind Bodhana at the event – said on X, formerly Twitter, that she was a “phenomenon”.
Bodhana started playing chess aged five, but her development as a player has taken the chess world by surprise. British International master Lawrence Trent praised her talent on X, predicting that she could go onto become one of the greatest chess players of all time.
After her win, Bodhana was interviewed by BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme. She said she was “proud” to take the title. She added that she didn’t get nervous during matches. “I just play the board.”
Remember the name – Bodhana Sivanandan. We may hear much more about her in the future.
