Chess: Child Prodigy to Represent England
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
A nine-year-old, Bodhana Sivanandan from North-west London, will make history when she represents England in the Chess Olympiad, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary, later this year.
She will become the youngest ever person to represent England internationally in any sport.
What is also remarkable about her is that she only started playing chess in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic lock-down.
She practices about one hour a day during the week and plays tournaments at the weekends and stated that chess makes her feel “good” and helps her with “lots of other things like maths [and] how to calculate.”
Two years ago, she won all three chess world championships in the under eight age group.
The Manager of the England Chess Team, Malcolm Pein, stated that “she’s on the way to be one of the best British players ever.”
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
