Bodhana in the Bundesliga

by ChessBase
10/13/2026 – Bodhana Sivanandan made her debut in the Second Bundesliga this weekend, playing for the Hamburger SK's men's team. She is the youngest youngest player ever to play in the German Bundesliga, and the youngest WGM in history. Her score in the two games she played: 1½ points. Not bad for an 11-year-old girl. Before the matches she visited ChessBase in Hamburg and did some recordings for us.
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Last April Bodhana and her father came to Hamburg for a week, during which she had training sessions. Here's a report on that visit. At the time Frederic Friedel took them to meet the Bundesliga team of the Hamburger Schachklub. We wanted her to play in the German league, and the management committee offered her a place in the Women's Bundesliga team. Frederic insisted that she play in the men's section. "But there she would have to face strong grandmasters," they said. "Not a problem," he told them. "Discussions are still ongoing," we wrote at the time, "but we can expect to see Bodhana playing for Hamburg in the near future."

A new member of the HSK II team – the little one in the middle | Photo Siva Velaiutham

And that she did, for the first time last weekend, when she made her debut for the HSK's second team, which traveled to nearby Lübeck. On Saturday the HSK played against the hosts Lübeck, which fielded three grandmasters, national coach Jan Gustafsson, Jonny Hector, and Raj Tischbierek. Hamburg had only one GM, Nikolas Lubbe, and was a clear underdog based on their average Elo rating. Bodhana secured a draw, but the HSK II lost 4½-3½.

On Sunday in the round against SK Kiel she won her game on board three, helping her team to a 5–3 victory. Here is Bodhana's game, annotated by André Schulz:

Bodhana winning the rook ending against Magnus Arndt! Photo: Merijn van Delft

On her way to Lübeck for the Bundesliga games Bodhana and her father stopped off in Hamburg, visiting the ChessBase office and doing recordings there for ChessBase Magazine and Endgame Magic with GM Karsten Müller. As always she also visited the Friedel family in their home, where she signed their famous guest book.

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