Meet Bodhana — a new chess queen
PrashantNews
Just at the age of 8, a British Indian girl has stunned the world by winning the European Blitz Chess Championship, media reports said on Thursday.
Bodhana Sivanandan from Harrow, England, has emerged as the best female player at the European Blitz Chess Championship held at Zagreb, Crotia over the weekend. The child prodigy surpassed seasoned grandmasters, securing her position as a rising star in the world of chess.
She made chess history after she beat a master more than 30 years her senior at an international competition got into chess “accidentally”, her father has revealed.
She won 8.5/13 against a field of highly rated and experienced grandmasters, international masters and experts, and came 73rd in a round of 555 players.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Bodhana said: “I was very proud of myself when I got top girl in the European blitz.”
Bodhana’s father, Sivanandan Velayutham, said she started out “accidentally”, adding: “She’s trying her best. And it worked in favour of her [in the tournament]. So it was a good thing that happened in Zagreb when we went for the European rapid and blitz event.
St John Fisher Catholic Primary School, where she studies, has also lauded her achievement saying “our Bodhana!! British schoolgirl wins best female player at European chess championships aged just EIGHT by beating a master 30 years older than her.” Ends