Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, Beats Polgar's 1988 Age Record for Female IM

At the 41st European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro, FM Bodhana Sivanandan completed the requirements for the International Master title on Friday. She was 11 years, seven months and 16 days old, which makes her the youngest girl ever to do so.

She got there by beating WIM Viktoria Johansson of Sweden’s Wasa SK in the seventh and final round. That left her on 5.5/7 on board one for She Plays To Win Lionesses A, with a rating performance of 2465, enough for her third and final IM norm.

Passing Polgar

The previous female mark belonged to GM Judit Polgar, who earned the IM title at 12 in 1988 and went on to become the strongest female player in chess history. The record she took belonged to the best benchmark the women’s game has. Polgar’s age had survived for 38 years.

Chess.com’s research ranks Bodhana as the seventh-youngest IM of all time. She is exactly one month older than Javokhir Sindarov, now a World Championship challenger, was when he got the title in 2017.

Reigning champion Gukesh Dommaraju was almost two months older in 2018. Only ten players have completed the title before turning 12.

The British player from Harrow, outside London, was asked about the feat in a post-game interview with WCM Tallulah Roberts on the official broadcast. She was already looking ahead: “I’m happy about that but hopefully I’m able to get grandmaster soon as well!”

A fast month

The IM norm comes less than a month after she became the youngest player to fulfil the requirements for the Woman Grandmaster title at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. That title still awaits formal approval. In Budva she also passed the 2400 live rating the IM title requires.

The IM title is open to players of any gender, so this is a separate achievement from the women’s title. The titles explainer covers how the norm system works.

IM Malcolm Pein, the English Chess Federation’s Director of International Chess and External Relations, told Chess.com: “You can only describe her as a generational talent, I am delighted that it’s happening.” He added: “I think we stopped being surprised by her achievements in the last year.”

How the event went

Her tournament did not start smoothly. She lost in round one to GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, a former Women’s World Championship challenger. She then went unbeaten: five wins, among them IM Olga Badelka and finally Johansson to close the norm, and a draw with Nino Batsiashvili.

Going from a round-one loss to a Polgar-beating record in a week is a useful reminder of the format. A seven-round club event with a top-board assignment against strong opposition is a demanding norm hunt, and she handled it. The European Club Cup guide explains how the event runs.