Nine-year-old to represent England in international Chess Olympiad

LONDON: Nine-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest person selected to represent England in an international competition after being named in the women’s team for September’s Chess Olympiad, The Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Sivanandan, from Harrow in London was born in March 2015, took up chess during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

A year later she won silver medals in rapid and blitz European Under-eight tournaments and this year she became the world’s highest-ranked girl aged under 10.

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“The maturity of her play and her sublime touch is truly breath-taking,” English player and commentator Lawrence Trent wrote on X.

“I have no doubt she will be England’s greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen.”