Bodhana Plays & Beats Biggest Chess YouTuber GothamChess
At just 10 years old, English prodigy WIM Bodhana Sivanandan can already be considered to be one of the several celebrities to attend the 2025 Speed Chess Championship, which took place in London on February 7 and 8. In casual games played in the platinum lounge after the tournament ended, she played and beat IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) three times before finally making a draw in game four.
You can watch GothamChess' video recap of the game, and keep reading for our summary with game annotations below.
Game one attracted an incredible audience, considering it was just a casual blitz game. Onlookers included world number-one and five-time SCC Champion Magnus Carlsen, fresh off his tournament victory, as well as the two footballers (or soccer players) Antonee Robinson and Ebere Eze.
No big deal, just 10 years old and playing the biggest chess YouTuber @GothamChess, while the world’s best chess player, two Premiership footballers, and Anna Cramling all look on. pic.twitter.com/3XF207Wp6O
— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) February 11, 2026
Rozman mounted a winning advantage out of the opening, but he couldn't find the knockout blow. Bodhana, after defending tenaciously, finally delivered a fatal counterpunch and won his queen with a fork. He said at the end of his video, "We played 45 moves of chess and on the 45th move is the first time I even considered I could lose this game... she took my soul in one move."
She took my soul in one move.
—Levy Rozman
Rozman sprinkled in more self-deprecation: "This is typical GothamChess school of chess: getting a totally winning position and then screwing it up in a totally horrendous fashion."
You can see the full game annotations below, which include Rozman's thoughts about the game. Notably, around move 24, Carlsen walked over and offhandedly mentioned that the rook on h8 reminded him of a brilliant game between GMs Alexander Morozevich and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Chess.com's NM Sam Copeland made a video about that game, and it was featured in his article about the top 10 games played in the 2000s.
Without further ado, here are the annotations for game one between Rozman and Sivanandan.
At the SCC, she also had the chance to play Carlsen for the first time ever (she lost), IM Danny Rensch (she won), and FM Mike Klein (she drew).
First-ever game between them! pic.twitter.com/RbtPnFkNwI
— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) February 5, 2026
Sivanandan, born in March 2015, is a ChessKid ambassador and appeared in a viral 2023 video with 79-year-old former British champion Peter Lee.
In December 2023, Bodhana finished 73rd out of 555 players at the European Blitz Championship, winning the tournament's top women's prize. In February 2024, she crossed a 2000 live rating, one of the three highest ratings ever for an eight-year-old. Currently, Bodhana sits as the world's highest-rated girl under 11 years old. In November 2025, she hit a personal high of 2233.
Let us know in the comments: what did you think of the game? Would you like to see a rematch?
