Bodhana Sivanandan crowned youngest Woman Grandmaster at Chess Olympiad in Samarkand

Bodhana Sivanandan was crowned the youngest Woman Grandmaster (WGM) while representing England at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sunday (September 29, 2026). The 11-year-old London schoolgirl finished the tournament with eight points.

The Indian-origin prodigy became the youngest chess player in history to earn the WGM title after becoming the youngest person to represent England internationally in any sport, when she played for the English Chess Federation at age nine. FIDE confirmed her latest milestone. She played all 11 rounds on England's top board — a position assigned to the team's top player.

"I'm happy to do it, but I want to keep going and keep making history as well, instead of just stopping here," Ms. Bodhana told FIDE. "I like travelling and also because I do full-time school as well, it links to loads of school subjects, so it's really useful there as well," said the schoolgirl, who lives with her family in Harrow in north-west London.

Ms. Bodhana is described as self-taught, having first picked up chess during the COVID pandemic lockdown when her father's friend was going back to India and gave her some bags which contained a chessboard. That origin story is cited as the start of her rapid rise on the junior and national circuits.

Last month she became Britain's youngest-ever Women's Chess Champion at the 2026 British Chess Championships in Coventry. In faster formats, Ms. Bodhana is already the U.K. Open Women's Blitz Champion and joint British Women's Rapid Champion.

Her success over the weekend has earned her a second International Master (IM) norm. That result takes her another step closer to becoming an international master.