A nine-year-old chess prodigy has made historical past because the youngest participant to ever characterize England internationally for any sport.
Bodhana Sivanandan, from Harrow, North West London, will turn out to be the most recent member of England’s girls’s chess workforce, when she makes her debut on the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September.
Bodhana started enjoying chess at simply 5 years outdated, through the pandemic and says she needs to turn out to be a grand grasp, England’s youngest Olympic gold medallist and to ultimately win a world title.
The younger participant surprised the chess world in 2022 when she gained the world youth championship, making her England’s first winner in additional than 25 years.
She has stated it is a ‘nice honour’ to be chosen for the workforce.
Bodhana Sivanandan enjoying chess. The nine-year-old began aged 5 throughout lockdown and has taken the world by storm
The schoolgirl has now turn out to be the youngest particular person to characterize England in any sport internationally and can be a part of a workforce who’re a minimum of 20 years older than her
Some within the chess world have put the explosion in younger expertise right down to the hit TV present The Queen Gambit on Netflix which starred Anya Taylor Pleasure (pictured)
The nine-year-old is greater than a decade youthful than her youngest workforce mate, Lan Yao, 23.
Her different teammates embody Katarzyna Toma, Jovanka Houska and Harriet Hunt, who’re all of their thirties and forties.
The record-breaking announcement is a symptom of an rising expertise pool which some have credited to the Netflix present, The Queen’s Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Pleasure.
Malcolm Pein, one of many England workforce selectors, advised The Instances that the present had impressed thousands and thousands of latest gamers.
And this isn’t the primary historic second within the little woman’s profession.
In 2022 Bodhana gained titles in classical, fast and blitz competitions of the youth world championship.
Final 12 months she was additionally topped the perfect feminine participant on the European blitz championship in Zagreb.
Lawrence Trent, the chess commentator and worldwide grasp, wrote on X on the time: ‘Bodhana Sivanandan is without doubt one of the biggest skills I’ve witnessed in current reminiscence. The maturity of her play, her elegant contact, it is really breathtaking.
And she or he is in good firm as she’s going to be a part of 1000’s of younger gamers at London’s ChessFest on Sunday.
Final 12 months Bodhana was invited to Downing Road to play chess with Prime Minister as he pledged £1 million to attempt to enhance the variety of English grand masters
The pageant brings collectively fanatics from throughout the nation, together with many grand masters and Bodhana can be joined by different younger chess prodigies.
Among the many visitors there can be Shreyas Royal, who is ready to turn out to be England’s youngest ever grand grasp at 15, the world’s primary under-nine participant, Ethan Pang, from London, and Supratit Banerjee, 10, the world quantity two in his age group, who just lately transferred from Scotland to England.
Bodhana first heard the historic information that she had made it into the workforce from her father Sivanandan Velayutham who advised her whereas she was watching chess movies on YouTube.
However that is simply the newest chapter in an already thrilling profession for the nine-year outdated that began together with her rescuing a chess board from the garbage.
Simply final 12 months she was invited to Downing Road and was seen enjoying chess with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shortly earlier than the federal government introduced it was going to speculate £1million to attempt to enhance the variety of English grand masters.
Bodhana beforehand advised an Indian broadcaster that she started enjoying chess after rescuing a board that was going to be donated to charity.
‘I acquired fascinated with the items and I began taking them. I saved asking questions so my dad then taught me [how to play] utilizing YouTube,’ she stated.
