Our Bureau
London
Bodhana Sivanandan, , the 8-year old, from Harrow in north-west London, won the European Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, making history after being named the ‘super talented’ best female player at a European championship.
“Eight-year-old super talented Bodhana Sivanandan made an astonishing result in the Blitz competition. She scored 8.5/13 points to win the first women prize and earn 211.2 blitz ELO points,” said the European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships.
She took up chess during the COVID pandemic lockdown. In the European championship, she played with some of the best players in the world and defeated an international master to win her crown.
She has been widely applauded ever since on the social media, with leading professionals highlighting her ‘unbelievable’ performance. “I always try my best to win, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t,” Bodhana said to BBC after her win.
Father, Siva Sivanandan said his daughter was ‘trying her best and it has worked in favor of her’.
“She likes chess and she likes traveling. We keep trying and keep going,” he said.
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.
