Indian-origin English chess player Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest female International Master (IM) at the age of 11, breaking a 38-year-old record set by Judit Polgar.
At this week’s European Women’s Chess Club Cup, Sivanandan came close to drawing her opening-round match against Russian Grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina before defeating Belarusian International Master Olga Badelka in the third round to take her rating to 2399.4. However, her 32-move victory over Sweden’s Woman International Master Viktoria Johansson helped her achieve the distinction and join the list of the 10 youngest IMs of all time. She then drew against Georgian Grandmaster Nino Batsiashvili in the following round. The list includes India’s R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Argentina’s Faustino Oro, Turkey’s Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Russia’s Roman Shogdzhiev.
“Bodhana delivered a fantastic performance, scoring 5.5/7 on Board 1 for She Plays to Win Lionesses, making her the youngest female player in history to earn the IM title,” it added.
Sivanandan, who hails from Harrow in north London, needed only a few rating points to qualify for the open IM title and break Polgar’s record, while also securing a place among the 10 youngest IMs of all time. Earlier reporting noted: 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. Polgar won her IM title in 1988, at the age of 12. 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.
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.
“Congratulations to 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan on becoming an International Master with a final-round win at the European Women’s Chess Club Cup 2026!” the European Chess Union wrote on X.
Earlier reporting noted: Bodhana becomes the seventh youngest IM of all time, slotting her below World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov and above world champion D Gukesh . Earlier reporting noted: Bodhana, whose father is from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, has made smashing records seem routine.
