A British schoolgirl who made chess historical past after she beat a grasp greater than 30 years her senior at a global competitors received into chess “accidentally”, her father has revealed
Bodhana Sivanandan, eight, from Harrow, north-west London, was crowned best female player at the European fast and blitz championship in Zagreb, Croatia at the weekend.
She gained 8.5/13 towards a area of extremely rated and skilled grandmasters, worldwide masters and specialists, and got here 73rd in a spherical of 555 gamers.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Bodhana stated: “I was very proud of myself when I got top girl in the European blitz.”
Bodhana’s father, Sivanandan Velayutham, stated she began out “accidentally”, including: “She’s trying her best. And it worked in favour of her [in the tournament]. So it was a good thing that happened in Zagreb when we went for the European rapid and blitz event.
“Accidentally she started chess. She was curious and interested, so I started taking her around the English Chess Federation and the people in England who play chess and support chess; they are very friendly and very supportive,” he instructed the Today presenter Martha Kearney.
Dominic Lawson, the president of the English Chess Federation, instructed the Times the efficiency at the velocity chess occasion was “completely remarkable but not that surprising, because she is a phenomenon”.
In Zagreb, she delivered a formidable 5/11 end result with a 2056 efficiency within the fast spherical, however her efficiency within the 13-round blitz is being hailed by fellow gamers as phenomenal.
Bodhana beat her first worldwide grasp, the England ladies’s coach, Lorin D’Costa, 39, within the penultimate spherical.
The eight-year-old additionally drew with the two-time Romanian champion, grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy, 54, within the closing spherical, and in doing so grew to become the youngest player to keep away from defeat towards a grandmaster in a aggressive sport.
She was awarded the under-12 prize, in addition to ending prime of the English contingent however there was a one-prize-per-player rule, so she selected the ladies’s award. Her total tournament ranking efficiency of 2316 was at girl grandmaster degree.
Asked if she went into the tournament anticipating to win, she replied: “I always try my best to win all the tournaments, all the games. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Lawson added: “It’s an extraordinary result for an eight-year-old and something we’ve certainly never seen in this country. She has a remarkably mature playing style, it’s strategic and patient. She has what you might describe as a long game.”
Bodhana, who began taking part in chess at the age of 5 throughout the coronavirus pandemic after she discovered a chessboard and items in a bag given by her father’s buddy, has stated she is “not sure” of her likelihood is for the upcoming International Chess Congress in Hastings, East Sussex, on 28 December.
She has spoken of her ambition to change into a grandmaster and England’s youngest Olympic gold medallist, and finally to win a world title.
This summer season, she was invited to 10 Downing Street and performed chess with Rishi Sunak, earlier than the federal government introduced it was to take a position £1m within the sport to extend the variety of English grandmasters.
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