Making History
Indian-Origin Schoolgirl Chess Prodigy To Be Youngest In England Team
Bodhana Sivanandan, a nine-year-old schoolgirl of Indian origin, with roots in Tamil Nadu, is set to make chess history after she became the youngest person selected to represent England internationally in any sport.
Living in Harrow in north-west London, she will join the England Women’s Team at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in September.
Bodhana, from Harrow in north-west London, will join the England Women’s Team at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in September. The others in her team are all in their 20s, 30s or 40s.
According to Malcolm Pein, manager of the England chess team, the schoolgirl is one of the most remarkable British chess prodigies he has ever seen. “It’s exciting – she’s on course to be one of the best British players ever,” he said.
Last year, Bodhana became England’s first world youth chess champion in 25 years when she won the triple crown with titles in classical, rapid and blitz competitions in the girls’ under-8 category. She followed up by winning the woman’s award in the European Women’s Blitz Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, and was dubbed “super talented” at the time.
Soon after, she was among a group of young chess enthusiasts invited by the then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to 10 Downing Street to mark the government’s major new GBP 1 million investment package for the game.
The package has since been in place to support children attending schools in disadvantaged areas across England to learn and play chess, improve the visibility and availability of the game, and fund elite playing.
As part of the package, the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it would invest GBP 500,000 in the English Chess Federation (ECF) over two years to develop the next generation of world-class talent. Funds will support expert coaching, training camps and cutting-edge computer analysis for international events to assist current grandmasters and up-and-coming players.
Alongside the support committed to elite players, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) provides GBP 250,000 to 85 local authorities across England to install 100 new chess tables in public parks and outdoor green spaces to allow more people to play, connect, tackle loneliness, and develop problem-solving skills.
Coming back to Bodhana, her father, Siva Sivanandan, says he remains mystified about where his daughter got her talent. “I’m an engineering graduate, as is my wife, but I’m not good at chess,” he said.
She picked the game up during lockdown, aged five, when a friend of her father’s was clearing out his garage. One of the items he was throwing away was a chess set which Tamil Nadu-born Sivanandan brought home, intending to give it to charity. She peered inside the bag and was curious about the chess pieces such as the king and the knight. She started watching YouTube videos of chess and playing online against strangers.
Velayutham thinks his daughter was drawn to the royal associations of chess. “She likes the royal stories and family. I think that’s why she thought this looks interesting,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
Now she aspires to become a grandmaster, the highest title in international chess, as well as women’s world champion. She currently holds the title of Woman FIDE Master.
