In September 2020, Sivanandan Velayutham was helping to clear out a friends garage when he uncovered a dusty magnetic chess set. He packed the folding brown and cream board into a bag, along with a collection of old books, brought it home and thought little about it. That is, until his five-year-old daughter, Bodhana, discovered a peculiar figurine lying loose inside. I want the horsey, she said.

Sivanandan named the pieces one by one, before showing Bodhana a YouTube video explaining the games rules. She was curious and wanted to know more, he says simply. Three years later, Bodhana would set the world of chess ablaze.

On Saturday, December 14, she was crowned best female player at the European Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, and achieved what many are already calling the best-ever result by an under-10 girl. Totalling a remarkable 8.5/13 against an elite 555-person field, including 48 grandmasters and 50 international masters, the primary school pupil came 73rd overall, defeating her first International Master, the England womens coach Lorin DCosta.

By drawing with two-time Romanian champion grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy in the final round, Bodhana became the youngest player to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game six days younger than when future grandmaster David Howell beat grandmaster John Nunn at the 1999 Mind Sports Olympiad.

Irina Bulmaga, 30, the Romanian international master and woman grandmaster who was also at the competition, said it was an unbelievable result and described Bodhana as a phenomenon. Lawrence Trent, the chess commentator and international master, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that she is one of the greatest talents Ive witnessed in recent memory, adding: I have no doubt she will be Englands greatest player and most likely one of the greatest the game has ever seen.

So, what does her father make of her astonishing achievement? Im not yet celebrating, he says, with a wry smile on his face. Im happy, but the road is very long. If I jump for joy now, I think it might be an end point I have to keep calm. He is speaking over Zoom from his home office in Harrow, north-west London. Perched on a shelf in the background are the folding chessboard, the Hillingdon District Chess League Under 18 trophy which Bodhana took home this year for being the best player in the competition, aged just eight and a keyboard.

This last item comes as a surprise. Midway through last year, with Bodhana having already won international tournaments for her age group, she decided, in capricious seven-year-old fashion, that she wanted to give up chess to play piano instead. I bought a keyboard; it all went well for four days, but after that she said shes not keen on keyboard and she went back to chess, her father explains, pragmatically. All I said was: You need to know what youre doing. Whatever you do, I can support. But if you are mixing too many things, I may not be able to support you.

Original post:

The secrets of raising an eight-year-old chess prodigy - The Telegraph