8-year-old prodigy faces 79-year-old British champion

A heart-warming moment

Press release by chess.com

She is the 8-year-old prodigy taking the British chess scene by storm. He is a 79-year-old who reached the top as British Champion way back in 1965.

Both are united over a love of the ancient game.

Chess.com brought together Harrow schoolgirl Bodhana Sivanandan and Peter Lee, the former England international and the only person who has won British championships in both chess and bridge, for a very special moment at The Athenaeum private members’ club in London’s St James’s.

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Bodhana is considered one of the most talented eight-year-olds in the world right now. Last year, she won the 2022 world under-eight girl championships at both rapid and blitz in Batumi, Georgia, with a perfect score of 11/11, winning all her games in both formats.

So what happens when two people more than two generations apart come together for a chess match? Watch our video to find out.

ChessBase India’s profile of Bodhana Sivanandan

By Sneha Tiwari

There are talented young chess players all over the world. They all have different journeys and differing aspirations in their lives. However, a few of them shine so brightly through their hard work that the light they emit inspires others. Sagar Shah interviewed one such very talented kid, who might easily be the most talented 8-year-old in the world right now. Yes, we are talking about the highly skilled and talented Bodhana Sivanandan.

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The 8-year-old talent from London recently achieved something truly amazing. Bodhana finished first at the world's cadets under 8 in rapid and blitz. What is more amazing is that she did it with a perfect score of 11/11, winning all her games in both formats.

Being the humble human being she is, when Sagar asked her what the secret behind this victory of hers was, she said:

I don’t really have a secret. I just played naturally and won the games.

However, it is natural for people to take a back seat and start lacking off when they know they have achieved the set goal. But with Bodhana, it was different. What’s intriguing about her is that around round 9 Bodhana’s score was such that it was obvious that it would be her who would win the tournament, so what motivated her to go on and win all the games? To this, she says that she was more focused on collecting the ratings, so she had to win all her games.

When Sagar asked if winning all the games was something she expected, Bodhana said:

I expected this result because last year I managed to do the same and wanted to repeat that.

That is one of the key qualities that a good player must possess. The motivation to do better than you already have. The zeal to never stop is what helps them grow and learn.

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