Bodhana Sivanandan, Indian-origin phenom from England, sets record as youngest girl to beat a grandmaster

Chess for Bodhana happened almost by accident.

“Bodhana started playing chess when she was just five years old. We had no plans to make her play chess. She just stumbled across a chess board at home, and started to play,” Bodhana’s father Sivanandan Velayutham had told The Indian Express last year.

“I knew just basic chess, so I downloaded Chess.com to help her learn by watching the videos there. Back then, I just got her a free version, thinking she might not continue the sport,” he said.

Sivanandan was mistaken. Bodhana has spent the last few years making headlines and breaking records. She’s already won three world junior titles.

Yet, her victory over the 60-year-old Wells caused a flutter in British chess circles. After all, Wells is still an active chess player, and Bodhana’s title of Woman FIDE Master is at least five rungs below the grandmaster title, the ultimate title in chess. The event helped her earn the final ‘norm’ she needed to take one step up and acquire the Women’s International Master title.

Bodhana’s victory also came as a bit of a shock because she was in trouble in the middle game against a player of Wells’ experience. By the 19th move, dark clouds of trouble hovered over her pieces as both of Wells’ menacing knights started advancing towards her king. By the 26th move, she was staring at defeat. After a brief respite, she was again fighting a losing cause on move 37. But it took just three moves — a careless knight hop from Wells (39.Nd2), an aggressive rook maneuver from Bodhana threatening the black king (40.Re1) and finally an ill-advised side shuffle from the queen (40.Qc6) — to overturn the entire game and led to Wells resigning.

“How on earth did she win this? She must be some kind of magician!” Danny Gormally, the English Chess Federation’s expert commentator, reportedly remarked during the live broadcast stream.

Bodhana gained 24 rating points during the event and finished joint 26th in the open event, which was remarkable for her age. She could have chosen to play in the age group events and easily swept the titles in her categories like U12.

“She likes to play simple positional moves… very solid player. But she tends to outplay her opponents later in the game. There’s a touch of Magnus Carlsen or the great Jose Raul Capablanca about her play,” Gormally said in commentary.

Unsurprisingly, Capablanca is one of her favourite players, while Carlsen, who has become a reference point for most young prodigies, only gets mentioned third in her list of favourites. “I really like Capablanca because of his end games,” she had told The Indian Express last year. “I also like Judit Polgar and Carlsen.”

When asked what she likes about chess, Bodhana, who keeps her replies short and to the point, said: “I really like that it activates your brain and that it involves strategy and calculation.”

Unlike other kids from India, who single-mindedly dedicate themselves to the pursuit of chess, education is a big part of Bodhana’s daily routine. She also learnt to play the piano and violin a couple of years ago. But for now, chess has a hold on her imagination.

“I like chess more than playing the piano and violin because there’s no grading in piano and in chess you can keep improving,” she said.

“Bodhana is an inspiration to girls. The way she exudes calmness and maturity on the board,” said FM Tim Wall, English Chess Federation’s Director of Junior Chess, who oversees the age group categories for the national federation. “She clearly has a very strong work ethic. She certainly has a very high ceiling.”

Wall prophesizes that Bodhana can become a grandmaster “in three to four years.”

If that prophecy comes true, that would be a rapid rise even by chess’ lightning-fast standards, where there have been grandmasters at the age of 12.