11 years, 7 months and 16 days. That is how old Bodhana Sivanandan (2406) is as she becomes the youngest girl in chess history to achieve the International Master (IM) title. The schoolgirl from Harrow, London, whose family hails from Trichy in Tamil Nadu, completed the requirements on Friday, 23rd of October 2026, scoring her third and final IM norm at the 30th European Club Cup for Women in Budva, Montenegro. In doing so, she broke a 38-year-old record held by none other than GM Judit Polgar, widely regarded as the greatest female player of all time, who had qualified at the age of 12 in 1988.
Playing on top board for She Plays To Win Lionesses A, Bodhana went into the final round needing a win with the Black pieces against Sweden's WIM Viktoria Johansson (2034). And she delivered! The win took her to 5.5/7 with a performance rating of 2504. The 24 rating points she gained in Budva took her from 2382 to 2406, past the 2400 mark required for the title.
The seventh-youngest ever to become an IM
Bodhana is now the seventh-youngest player, boy or girl, to qualify for the IM title, and one of only ten players in chess history to do it before turning 12. She is exactly one month older than Uzbekistan's GM Javokhir Sindarov was when he qualified in 2017, while World Champion D. Gukesh was almost two months older in 2018. Yes, the two players who will face each other for the World Championship crown next month are both on this list!
No. | Player | Federation | Age | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Roman Shogdzhiev | RUS | 10 years, 3 months, 25 days | 2025 |
2 | Faustino Oro | ARG | 10 years, 8 months, 6 days | 2024 |
3 | Abhimanyu Mishra | USA | 10 years, 9 months, 3 days | 2019 |
4 | R. Praggnanandhaa | IND | 10 years, 9 months, 19 days | 2016 |
5 | Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | TUR | 11 years, 1 month, 20 days | 2022 |
6 | Javokhir Sindarov | UZB | 11 years, 6 months, 16 days | 2017 |
7 | Bodhana Sivanandan | ENG | 11 years, 7 months, 16 days | 2026 |
8 | Bharath Subramaniyam | IND | 11 years, 8 months, 8 days | 2019 |
9 | D. Gukesh | IND | 11 years, 9 months, 9 days | 2018 |
10 | Sergey Karjakin | UKR | 11 years, 11 months | 2001 |
Ages are at the time of achieving the title.
Three norms in three months
All three of Bodhana's IM norms came in the space of just over three months. The first arrived at the Dole Open in France in July, where she defeated GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi (2628) to become the youngest girl ever to beat a player rated above 2600 in classical chess.
The second came at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand in September, where she played every round on England's top board and became the youngest player ever to complete the requirements for the WGM title. The third and final norm was scored in Budva.
The Budva campaign
Bodhana's event began with a fighting 77-move loss to former Women's World Championship challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2536). She then beat India's WFM Darshini T Sri (2191), outplayed Austria's IM Olga Badelka (2408) and drew with Georgia's GM Nino Batsiashvili (2459), before rounding off the event with three straight wins over Croatia's FM Ena Cvitan (2308), Lithuania's Arina Budiak (1709) and Johansson.
"A generational talent"
IM Malcolm Pein, the ECF's Director of International Chess, said: "I can only describe Bodhana as a generational talent. There was no limit to what she can achieve. It's remarkable that she is more than matching Judit Polgar's achievements at a similar age and breaking her records, even if we live in different times. It's worth noting that Bodhana is the seventh youngest player, boy or girl, to become an International Master."
Pein added that the ECF was grateful to Bodhana's parents for supporting her on a journey "which is only just beginning", and confirmed what comes next: "We are looking forward to Bodhana's next tournament, which will be the FIDE Swiss at the XTX market's 16th London Chess Classic."
Bodhana is now the second-highest-rated player in the world born in 2015 or later, behind only IM Roman Shogdzhiev. After her final-round win, she was already looking ahead: "I'm happy about that but hopefully I'm able to get grandmaster soon as well!" Congratulations, Bodhana! We are sure that day is not too far away.
Bodhana outclasses Badelka
ChessBase India covered Bodhana's third-round win over IM Olga Badelka from this very event. Video: ChessBase India.
