Article #86599

Harrow schoolgirl eclipses legend Judit Polgar’s mark as youngest girl ever to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, then draws with a former 2700

England’s 11-year-old talent Bodhana Sivanandan scored her best individual result last Saturday, when the Harrow schoolgirl defeated France’s 2628-rated grandmaster Marc’Andria Maurizzi, 19, in the opening round of the Dole Trophy in Aix-en-Provence. Maurizzi was world under-20 junior champion in 2023 and is the current French champion.

Sivanandan had beaten two GMs previously, but neither was as eminent as Maurizzi, and her result is a new world age record for a girl to defeat a grandmaster rated over 2600. The Frenchman held the advantage for the first 27 moves but then blundered into a tactic which won his queen for inadequate compensation.