England’s talent from Harrow can become the youngest female international master in chess history
Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, who needed just a few rating points to qualify for an open international master title and to break Judit Polgar’s world age record, went very close to a draw against the former world title challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina in round one of this week’s European Club Cup, then outplayed her IM opponent in round three to take her rating to 2399.4 against the 2400 needed. In her next game, she drew from a winning position against GM Nino Batsiashvili, rated 2426.
Sivanandan has thus already joined the 10 youngest 2400-rated players of all time, who include the new Russian star Roman Shogdzhiev, the world No 5, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Argentina’s Faustino Oro, and Turkey’s Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus.