- Bodhana Sivanandan, from London, was crowned best female player
- She is a master chess player, more than thirty years her senior
- She started playing chess when she was five, during the COVID-19 pandemic
A British schoolgirl has become Europe's best female chess player after winning a continental tournament at the age of eight.
Bodhana Sivanandan, from Harrow in north-west London, was named the best female player at the European Rapid and Blitz Championship, held in Zagreb, Croatia.
The win comes after she started playing chess at the age of five, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says she wants to become a grandmaster, England's youngest Olympic gold medalist and eventually win a world title.
She defeated her first international master, 39-year-old Lorin D'Costa, the England women's coach, in the penultimate round, before drawing with two-time Romanian champion Vladislav Nevednichy, 54, in the final round.
Competitors said that while they were impressed with her 5/11 result in the fast round, her performance in the 13-round blitz is praised by fellow players as phenomenal.
Irina Bulmaga, 30, the Romanian international master and female grandmaster who also took part in the competition, said it was an “incredible result” from an eight-year-old, adding: “Winning first prize among the women ahead of me and a lot of other experienced players! What a phenomenon she is!'
Bodhana Sivanandan (pictured) was invited to Downing Street this summer and was playing chess with Rishi Sunak
In just a few days, on December 28, she will take part in the International Chess Congress in Hastings, East Sussex
Lawrence Trent, chess commentator and international master, wrote of X: 'Bodhana Sivanandan is one of the greatest talents I have seen in recent history. The maturity of her playing, her sublime touch, it is truly breathtaking.
'I have no doubt she will become England's best player and quite possibly one of the best the game has ever seen.'
Dominic Lawson, chairman of the English Chess Federation, told the Times that the Londoner's performance in the speed chess event was “completely remarkable but not that surprising because she is a phenomenon.”
'It is an extraordinary result for an eight-year-old and certainly something we have never seen in this country.
'She has a remarkably mature playing style, strategic and patient. She has what you might describe as a long game.”
Bodhana was invited to Downing Street this summer and was playing chess with Rishi Sunak, shortly before the government announced it would invest £1 million in a bid to increase the number of English grandmasters.
Bodhana is currently the world's third highest rated player born in 2015 in classical chess.
She previously told an Indian broadcaster that she started playing chess after saving a board that was going to be donated to charity.
'I became fascinated with the pieces and started taking them. I kept asking questions, so my dad then taught me (to play) using YouTube,” she said.
She became the first English Youth World Champion in 25 years, after winning titles in classic, rapid and blitz competitions.
And in just a few days, on December 28, she will take part in the International Chess Congress in Hastings, East Sussex.