9-Year-Old Bodhana To Become England's Youngest Ever Olympian
British chess sensation WFM Bodhana Sivanandan continues to make chess history. Now the nine-year-old prodigy is set to become the youngest player ever to represent England in an international sporting competition.
Sivanandan is one of five players selected for England's women's team in the 2024 Chess Olympiad, that takes place in Budapest, Hungary from September 11-22. She will play alongside veterans IM Jovanka Houska, IM Harriet Hunt, and WGM Katarzyna Toma, all in their 30s and 40s, while WGM Yao Lan is 23.
“I’m so pleased to be picked for England. It’s a great honor and I’m looking forward to being part of a team," Sivanandan said.
Teammate Houska commented, "I've had a lot of players say to me they're terrified of playing her!"
Jovanka Houska on Bodhana Sivanandan playing for England at the Olympiad: "I can tell you one thing—I've had a lot of players say to me they're terrified of playing her. A 9-year-old that's close to 2200 — that's scary!" #GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/54fW3nHDkl
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 3, 2024
According to the Guardian, she is likely the youngest to ever represent England in any international sporting competition. England selector and chief executive of Chess In Schools & Communities IM Malcolm Pein called her inclusion entirely justified.
“Bodhana’s success at European level includes victories over many established players, and her fearless style of play and immense focus on the board has already caused a sensation in the chess world,” he told the Guardian.
Her fearless style of play and immense focus on the board has already caused a sensation in the chess world.
—Malcolm Pein
Sivanandan will be part of a powerful England team, whose open representatives—GMs Nikita Vitiugov, David Howell, Michael Adams, Gawain Jones, and Luke McShane, are the country's top-five on the rating list and potential medal contenders.
While Sivanandan is set to become one of the youngest participants in the 2024 Chess Olympiad, she won't be the youngest ever. In 2022, eight-year-old Randa Sedar played for Palestine. Other youngsters have also played for smaller nations.
The youngest participant of the 2022 #ChessOlympiad, Randa Sedar, is just eight years old and is from Hebron, Palestine.
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 28, 2022
Her father started teaching her chess when she was five, and it soon became her life! pic.twitter.com/jh3AYUNfiY
Sivanandan has stunned the chess world and made headlines all over the world with her record-breaking performances. Last year she became England's first World Youth Chess Champion in 25 years, winning a historic triple gold medal by scoring an incredible 33/33. She followed up by sensationally winning the woman's prize in the European Woman's Blitz Championship, beating an IM and drawing a GM along the way.
Her rise continued this year, jumping 327 rating points to 2185 and positioning herself as the world's second highest-rated player under nine, only rivaled by compatriot Ethan Pang. She recently earned the WFM title and is edging closer to the woman international master title as well, becoming the youngest ever to earn a norm.
Sivanandan has also caught the attention of the greatest female player in history, GM Judit Polgar. Earlier this year, Bodhana met the legend in her home in Budapest, getting a masterclass that was filmed by Chess.com. A video of the meeting is set to be released this month.
9-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan will be the youngest ever to represent England at a Chess Olympiad!🏴 Huge congrats to you, and I’m excited to follow your games come September in Budapest!#ChessConnectsUs #prodigy #keepfocus #sporthistory #newgenerations
— Judit Polgar (@GMJuditPolgar) July 3, 2024
📷 https://t.co/GgvoeJphhS pic.twitter.com/hoZFUJLHax
Bodhana will next be in action on July 7 at the annual ChessFest at London's Tragalgar Square, while she will also play in Chess.com's Kids vs. Stars on July 16, where she will compete against Houska and WGM Nemo Zhou in a fun series of matches.
Tarjei Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
