{"id":2911,"date":"2026-10-24T08:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T08:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/24\/bodhana-sivanandan-youngest-female-im\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T08:36:38","slug":"bodhana-sivanandan-youngest-female-im","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/24\/bodhana-sivanandan-youngest-female-im\/","title":{"rendered":"11\u2011Year\u2011Old Bodhana Sivanandan Becomes Youngest Female International Master"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>British chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan, aged 11 years, 7 months and 16 days, clinched her third International Master (IM) norm on Friday at the European Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro. The victory over Sweden\u2019s WIM Viktoria Johansson on board one for the She Plays To Win Lionesses A team secured the final requirement for the IM title, making her the youngest woman ever to achieve the distinction.<\/p>\n<h2>Breaking a 38\u2011year\u2011old record<\/h2>\n<p>The accomplishment shatters a benchmark set by Hungarian Grandmaster Judit\u202fPolgar in 1988. Polgar earned the IM title at age 12; Sivanandan\u2019s new record places her roughly a year younger, establishing a new milestone for female players worldwide. Chess.com research confirms that Sivanandan is now the seventh\u2011youngest player of any gender to qualify for the IM title, and she joins an exclusive group of ten individuals who have done so before turning twelve.<\/p>\n<p>Her performance rating of 2,465 in the final round, combined with a tournament score of 5.5 out of 7, satisfied the final norm criteria. The win came after a dramatic comeback: after losing her opening round game to former Women\u2019s World Championship challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, she rallied with two victories, including a decisive game against IM Olga Badelka, and held a draw against five\u2011time Georgian Women\u2019s champion GM Nino Batsiashvili before facing Johansson.<\/p>\n<h2>Road to the title<\/h2>\n<p>Sivanandan\u2019s three IM norms were earned within a three\u2011month span. The first arrived at the Dole Open in France in July, where she posted a 5\u2011out\u2011of\u20119 score and became the youngest girl to secure an IM norm, a record previously held by Polgar. During that event she defeated GM Marc\u2019Andria Maurizzi, who was rated 2,628, making her the youngest female to beat a player rated above 2,600 in classical chess.<\/p>\n<p>The second norm was achieved at the September Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Playing on England\u2019s top board for every round, she amassed 8 points from 11 games. A final\u2011round victory over WGM Janelle Mae Frayna secured the IM norm, while an earlier win in the same tournament earned her the final norm required for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title \u2013 a title she had already qualified for but was still awaiting formal confirmation at the time of the European Club Cup.<\/p>\n<p>In August, she also claimed the title of youngest British Women\u2019s Champion, adding to a rapidly expanding r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that includes becoming England\u2019s first world youth champion in 25 years at age eight, and sweeping the under\u2011eight girls\u2019 world titles in classical, rapid and blitz formats with a perfect combined score of 33\u201133.<\/p>\n<h2>Reactions from the chess community<\/h2>\n<p>Following the decisive game, Sivanandan told WCM Tallulah Roberts that she was already looking ahead, saying, \u201cI\u2019m happy about that but hopefully I\u2019m able to get grandmaster soon as well!\u201d The comment reflects her ambition to progress beyond the IM level.<\/p>\n<p>IM Malcolm Pein, Director of International Chess and External Relations at the English Chess Federation, described her as a \u201cgenerational talent\u201d and noted that her achievements have become almost expected after a year of extraordinary results. Pein also highlighted her positional style, soundness, strong endgame technique and natural intuition.<\/p>\n<p>Her long\u2011time coach, GM Mert Erdogdu, who began working with her in January 2026, attributed the rapid ascent to her love of the game and disciplined training schedule, which includes four weekly sessions with him and additional work with GM John Emms. Erdogdu said, \u201cHer progress was inevitable, as she loves the game and works very hard\u2026 no achievement comes as a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The broader British chess scene has taken notice. Pein pointed out that coverage of Sivanandan\u2019s recent WGM record generated a surge of public interest, with a BBC article becoming the second\u2011most\u2011read story for several hours after publication. He suggested that her visibility could help broaden the game\u2019s appeal in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>Teamwise, the She Plays To Win Lionesses A finished 11th out of 22 teams in the women\u2019s section, a placement one spot above their pre\u2011tournament seeding. Sivanandan assessed the team\u2019s performance modestly, stating that the primary goal was to enjoy the experience and play cohesively.<\/p>\n<p>With the IM title now within reach, Sivanandan joins a select lineage of female players who have broken barriers at a young age. Her record\u2011setting run not only rewrites history but also sets a new benchmark for aspiring chess talents worldwide.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, secured her final IM norm at the European Club Cup, breaking Judit\u202fPolgar\u2019s 38\u2011year\u2011old record as the youngest female International Master.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[3246,470,3245,3244,2206],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bodhana-sivanandan","tag-chess","tag-international-master","tag-prodigy","tag-womens-chess","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}