Bodhana Surpasses 2300 At 11 To Earn FM Title, Tops Judit Polgar’s Rating At Same Age

Eleven-year-old WIM Bodhana Sivanandan has added another milestone to her rapidly growing chess career, surpassing the 2300 rating barrier for the first time to secure the FM title. The British prodigy is now rated higher at the same age as GM Judit Polgar, the greatest female player of all time.

The young star, who turned 11 on March 7, has regularly made headlines globally in recent years thanks to numerous record-breaking achievements. Last year, she scored her first WGM norm as the youngest-ever. Two weeks later, she followed that up by becoming the youngest woman to beat a grandmaster in classical chess.

Last week, she stole the spotlight once again with excellent results in tournaments in Austria and France, which have catapulted her live rating to 2363, taking her to the top-three ranking among players under the age of 11.

Remarkably, she was among the lowest-ranked players in both tournaments she played and faced just three lower-ranked players, but still scored above 50 percent. At the Graz Open, Bodhana scored 5/9 with a performance rating of 2381, gaining 102 rating points. She won two games, including victories against an FM and an IM.

At the Cannes Chess Festival, Bodhana proved that the performance in Austria was no coincidence. She followed it up with 5/9 against only titled players, and only late losses prevented her from picking up her first IM norm. In the end, she added another 98 rating points with her 2377 rating performance.

Last week, Chess.com's FM Mike Klein conducted a fascinating interview with Bodhana, who reflected on her achievement and recent progress.

“Making the FM title is a great feeling,” she said with a smile. “But I crossed 2200 briefly about two years ago, so getting the rating now is great as well.”

Making the FM title is a great feeling,
—Bodhana Sivanandan

She explained she was not aware of crossing 2300 during the tournament, but only found out two rounds later when she was congratulated for the feat, and her dad confirmed the math.

Bodhana noted how her lower seeding meant that she consistently faced much-higher-ranked opponents throughout the two tournaments. "I don’t know how it happened," she said. “Maybe I got a bit lucky with the pairings, and the first few rounds went my way."

She can't think of anything particular with her training that contributed to the success: "I don’t think anything was really different. But I’m happy with it overall," she said, adding: "I haven’t really worked on one thing specifically. I’ve just tried to improve my chess in general."

Few of Bodhana's games from the tournament are available, but at least we have this one where the prodigy displays some of her excellent endgame technique.

Chess.com's Tai Pruce-Zimmerman, founder of the Prodigy Watch, compared Bodhana with the "Queen of Chess" Judit Polgar in his latest rating update this month: "Bodhana's live rating is now higher than Polgar at the same age and would have been enough for a top-10 Prodigy Rank on the open list if we used live ratings in these calculations. Next up may be her chase of the 2400 rating mark."

IM Malcolm Pein, the Director of International Chess and External Relations of the English Chess Federation, has followed Bodhana closely. He told Chess.com:

"The only thing we need to say about Bodhana is that some of her achievements are on a par or even ahead of Judit. She has the potential to be a world champion."

When asked about the statistic, Bodhana responded with maturity. "Knowing that I’m higher rated than Judit Polgar was at this age is good to know," she said. "But I don’t want to stop here—I just want to keep going up with my rating and keep hitting more milestones."

I don’t want to stop here—I just want to keep going up with my rating and keep hitting more milestones.
—Bodhana Sivanandan

Extraordinary achievements have led to unusual levels of attention for a player of her age. In February, she appeared at Chess.com's Speed Chess Championship Finals in London, where she played blitz games against none other than IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess. 

She ended up beating the famous YouTuber, an international master, three times in a row. As if that wasn't enough, she also played world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen, although that game didn't go her way. Still, quite an experience for the then-10-year-old from London.

Asked about the experience, she said: "Playing Magnus Carlsen is not something everyone gets to do,” she noted. “I was really nervous during the game. Even though it was a friendly game, playing the world number-one was such a big thing. It was a really enjoyable experience."

Despite the surroundings, with several cameras, celebrity spectators, and even Premier League footballer Eze Eberechi watching, she said she tries to treat every game the same. "I don't really think I get nervous during games unless I am playing someone big in the chess world. For me, every game is important anyway," she said. "I just try to focus and learn."

Now holding both the woman international master (WIM) and the FIDE master (FM) titles, Bodhana says she is not focused on which title she prefers.  “I don’t really mind the titles,” she said. "I just want to keep going and keep achieving more."

I just want to keep going and keep achieving more.
—Bodhana Sivanandan