Bodhana breaks Judit Polgar’s record, becomes IM at 11

Bengaluru: Indian-origin British chess phenom, 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan, broke Judit Polgar’s record from nearly four decades ago, becoming the youngest female international master in chess history. The tween from Harrow, north London picked up her third and final IM norm after winning her final-round game against 2034-rated WIM Viktoria Johansson at the European Club Cup on Friday.

Bodhana becomes the seventh youngest IM of all time, slotting her below World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov and above world champion D Gukesh. Polgar won her IM title in 1988, at the age of 12.

Bodhana, whose father is from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, has made smashing records seem routine. She is the youngest-ever player to earn a Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm and youngest-ever female player to earn the Woman International Master (WIM) title. In 2025, she became the youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster. More recently, at 11 years and four months, she became the youngest girl ever to score an International Master (IM) norm.

The Class 6 student who loves math and endgames, and plays a bit of violin and piano, won the British Championships women’s title, breaking the record held by Elaine Pritchard, who won outright at the age of 13 in 1939.

“I didn’t do much,” she told HT in an earlier interview when asked how she celebrated her British Championships win. “I just kind of went back to chess and started preparing for the Olympiad.”

Bodhana was five when she stumbled upon chess. The pandemic was raging then and she found a chess set among the belongings a family friend who was returning to India had given her father.

“I just liked how the pieces looked, and then when I learnt the basics, I enjoyed it. I kept watching videos and wanted to learn. I suppose I was a bit competitive at the start, but after I began playing chess, I think I've become a lot more competitive.”