An eight-year-old lady from London has set new chess information at a European event.
Bodhana Sivanandan gained the ladies’s prize on the European blitz championship in Zagreb, Croatia, ending 73rd out of 555 gamers.
Sivanandan arrived late to the occasion within the Croatian capital after going to the mistaken entrance and needed to forfeit her first recreation, dropping by default, The Guardian reported.
Nonetheless, the younger prodigy gained 8.5/13 factors in opposition to a subject that contained a few of the finest gamers on the earth, together with 48 grandmasters — the best title a chess participant can maintain.
In a single recreation, the eight-year-old defeated the worldwide grasp and England ladies’s coach Lorin D’Costa.
Within the remaining spherical, she drew with Romanian grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy, 54, the youngest participant ever to keep away from defeat to a chess champion of the highest rank in a aggressive recreation.
Her event efficiency was rated at 2316, the extent of a lady grandmaster, per The Guardian.
Dominic Lawson, the president of the English Chess Federation, stated her efficiency was “fully outstanding however not that shocking, as a result of she is a phenomenon,” The Instances reported.
“It is an extraordinary consequence for an eight-year-old and one thing we have actually by no means seen on this nation,” Lawson stated. “She has a remarkably mature taking part in type, it is strategic and affected person. She has what you may describe as a protracted recreation.”
Many seasoned chess gamers have additionally weighed in on Sivanandan’s high-quality show, with Irina Bulmaga, a Romanian skilled chess participant and worldwide grasp, hailing it as an “unbelievable consequence.”
“What a phenomenon she is,” she added in a put up on X, previously Twitter.
Lawrence Trent, one other worldwide grasp wrote in one other put up: “Bodhana Sivanandan is likely one of the best skills I’ve witnessed in current reminiscence. The maturity of her play, her elegant contact, it is actually breathtaking. I’ve little question she will probably be England’s best participant and most definitely one of many best the sport has ever seen.”
The eight-year-old took up the sport throughout the UK’s COVID-19 pandemic and realized rapidly, even being invited to play chess with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Avenue, The Instances reported.
