Reigning Grandmaster outclassed by a 10 years old Chess Prodigy.

A 10-year-old British girl Bodhana Sivanandan, from northwest London, defeated 60 years old grandmaster Pete Wells in the final round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool thus creating a history in chess becoming the youngest female player to ever beat a grandmaster. At 10 years, five months and three days, Sivanandan broke the record set by American Carissa Yip, who was 10 years, 11 months and 20 days old when she defeated a grand master in 2019, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Sivanandan has now earned woman international master status, one level below the female-exclusive woman grandmaster title; the highest title in chess is grandmaster, owned by the likes of current world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. Her dad while speaking with the Media has asserted that nobody in their family had previously excelled at chess. While the prodigy

Sivanandan affirmed that she had inclined towards the chess at the age of five during the Covid pandemic.

The world of chess has been going through somewhat of an evolution in recent years, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. The ancient game’s popularity boom has been well documented, owing in part to the rise of online formats during the Covid-19 pandemic and the reputational boost provided by mainstream media, such as the Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit”. Since then, chess’ move to online platforms has accelerated and its now currently debuting at the Esports World Cup (EWC) this week.

The tournament, hosted and part-funded by Saudi Arabia, was held for the first time in 2024 and brought together professional gamers, publishers and fans from across the world for an eight-week competitive gaming bonanza. Earlier this year, it was announced that chess would be included in the 2025 edition, with the best players in the world competing for a $1.5 million prize pool – playing a new format which is deemed more accessible to an esports audience. In a bid to compete in the new event, top esports teams set about signing some of the best chess players on the planet. Team Liquid, one of the biggest esports teams, didn’t hold back and signed Norwegian world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, arguably the greatest chess player of all time.

Many titled players, including Carlsen, want to keep the traditional over-the-board chess alive, the transition to online platforms has coincided with changes in the game’s format. The result was the creation of a 10+0 format, which will give both players 10 minutes to make their moves without any chance to add additional time, increasing the chances of blunders as players battle against the clock.

The change, although radical when you compare to what the game was like less than 20 years ago, feels very natural to Carlsen. “The funny thing about chess is that it is a bit of an ancient game and an analog game. But it’s also kind of made for the digital age because it’s so simple to translate. Most of the time when I’m practicing chess, it’s always on a screen, whether it’s a phone, a computer or a tablet. Then when I get to tournaments, the pieces feel a bit strange and I don’t feel like I quite see the board the same way”, Carlsen said.

Team Maverick