11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan becomes youngest woman grandmaster at Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan

Over the weekend at the Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan, 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan became the youngest ever holder of the title of woman grandmaster while playing on a car booster seat so she could reach the board. By Tuesday morning she was back at school in north London for a design and technology lesson.

Bodhana, who was taught to play chess by her father Sivanandan Velayutham when she was five, has balanced rapid chess progress with the start of secondary school. Within a year of learning the game she was beating her father with the help of YouTube videos; at seven she won 5-1 playing simultaneously against six members of her local Harrow chess club and at eight she beat former British champion Peter Lee. In July she became the youngest girl to beat a grandmaster with a rating of over 2,600 and was the youngest person ever to be selected for an England team in any sport.

Her latest wins in Samarkand raised her rating to 2,382, exceeding the 2,300 required for the woman grandmaster title. She remains a few points short of the 2,400 rating required for international master status and needs 2,500 points to reach full grandmaster; the article notes that if she reaches 2,500 within the next 11 months she would become the world’s youngest ever grandmaster. She said: "I want to become a grandmaster as soon as possible, but I’m doing it because I like it, not to just chase records."

At home she has won three smartphones at various tournaments but is still too young to use them. "One day I’d like a phone, but I’m fine without," she said, while her father added: "I don’t think it is the right time for her to have a phone." The family missed a fortnight of school while competing in Uzbekistan after securing an authorised absence from her new school, and Bodhana will have to catch up on classes.

Bodhana described her approach to play as calm: "I don’t get nervous, but even when I do, I just try to focus on the game and forget about everything else." She played a blitz game against the current world No 1 Magnus Carlsen earlier this year: "It was a blitz game, and I lasted about 10 minutes. No one likes losing, but losing is kind of necessary to learn." Jonathan Eckert, 67, recalled drawing with her when she was six and said she "played the endgame extremely well, which is the sign of a classical player."

She is noted for classical play and positional sense and said: "Lots of people say that about me. It means you don’t play very sharp tactics, but I can also do that if I need to." Her booster seat, she suggested, can affect opponents: "Sometimes it distracts them, but I don’t know if it freaks them out." Her favourite player is José Raúl Capablanca: "I like the way he plays in his endgames."

Away from the board, Bodhana plays the piano and violin and enjoys reading; she does not watch television because she does not have time. She receives eight hours of chess tuition a week paid for by the English Chess Federation and the Chess Trust and the family have sponsorship from the Turkish investor Evren Üçok, Tangram Therapeutics and the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust.

Her next potential event is a nine-day tournament, the London Chess Classic at the end of November, but participation depends on fitting it around school and the schedules of her parents and younger twin sisters. Her father said: "We’re not pushy, we just work on our goals and keep going. Opportunities are scarce in this world. You have to understand your kids and know what they like and allow them to shine."