Good Sports: Ten-Year-Old Chess Prodigies Defeat Grandmasters
Two 10-year-olds, Bodhana Sivanandan and Keya Jha, recently defeated grandmasters while playing in tournaments in Britain and America respectively. Bodhana, from northwest London, beat 60-year-old grandmaster Pete Wells at the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool. At 10 years, five months and three days, Bodhana became the youngest person to earn the woman international master title and the youngest female player to beat a chess grandmaster.
On the same Sunday in August, Keya defeated grandmaster Bryan Smith to win the Joe Yun Memorial tournament in Akron, Ohio. Smith was in a winning position when he lost on time, allowing Keya to claim the $2,000 first-place prize. At 10 years, nine months, and two days old, Keya became the youngest American girl to defeat a grandmaster in classical chess. While Keya learned to play chess at age 4 while watching her father play online, Bodhana was 5 when she picked up the game.
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Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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