London: Ten-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan has won the women’s first prize at the UK Open Blitz Championships in Leamington Spa, earning £500 after an extraordinary performance of 13.5/15 points.
Defending champion Elmira Mirzoeva seemed to have the upper hand in their encounter but faltered at a crucial moment, blundering a pawn in what should have been a winning rook endgame — an opportunity Sivanandan seized with precision.
“I don’t mind who I compete against, I only care about the game," Bodhana was quoted as saying by the BBC. “Chess helps me with so many other things, at school it helps with maths, art, and music," she added.
Just last month, she gained global recognition after defeating former World Champion Mariya Muzychuk at the European Club Cup in Greece while representing She Plays to Win Lionesses, the 12th-seeded team. Born in London in 2015 to parents originally from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, she has steadily become one of the brightest prospects in world youth chess.
