Britain's newest chess queen becomes the youngest women's champion ever

Published: 01:31, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 01:34, 17 August 2026 Britain's new chess queen has been crowned at the tender age of 11.  England's prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan became Britain's youngest-ever Women's Chess Champion – something she has achieved before starting secondary school.  She beat a 39-year-old grandmaster on her way to the title at the nine-day British Championships held at the University of Warwick. In a tense, rapid-chess playoff between the top female players, Bodhana defeated Ireland's 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala, a hugely promising talent herself and the first Irishwoman to hold the Woman Grandmaster title.  Bodhana is widely considered a chess prodigy and some experts predict she will become Britain's greatest ever player.   Grandmaster Danny Gormally, commentating on the event for the English Chess Federation, said in the closing moments of the match: 'Unreal! Bodhana, or Godhana as I call her has won. She is unbelievable, a generational talent.' Bodhana broke a record set by Elaine Pritchard in 1939 – who won the championship when she was just 13.  The new chess queen lost only to fellow child genius Shreyas Royal, 17, who went on to win the overall British championship.  England's prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan became Britain's youngest-ever Women's Chess Champion Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted Bodhana, just 8, along with Shreyas Royal, aged 14 He topped the table after nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of two of England's more seasoned grandmasters, Luke McShane and nine-time champ Michael Adams.  The 17-year-old from south-east London became Britain's youngest-ever grandmaster in 2024.  Despite her rapid rise in skill, Britain's new chess queen only took up the game six years ago.  She found a chessboard in a bag of discarded items left by a family friend in her home in Harrow, north London, during the pandemic.  She told The Times: 'I was fascinated by how the pieces looked, especially the knight and the queen, and I wanted to use them as toys outside of chess. 'But then my dad told me that if I did that then the next person who got the chessboard wouldn’t be able to play chess properly.' He eventually taught his daughter how to play the game – despite only having a basic knowledge of chess.  Bodhana then developed her skills by watching YouTube tutorials and was soon regularly beating her father.  Bodhana is widely considered a chess prodigy and some experts predict she will become Britain's greatest ever player She first entered a tournament at the Harrow Chess Club in July 2021, but success came in 2022 when she entered the European Schools Championship in May 2022 aged seven.  There, she won all of her 24 matches and won three golds.  From then, she started competing against players with decades more experience and became the youngest person to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game at the European Rapid and Blitz chess tournaments in Croatia. Despite becoming Britain's Women's Chess Champion – she is not content to stay where she is.  'I’m happy about the title but I want to keep going for more in the future,' she said.  'I want to become a grandmaster as soon as possible.'