A 10-year-old British girl has made chess history by becoming the youngest female player to ever beat a grandmaster.

Bodhana Sivanandan, from northwest London, defeated 60-year-old grandmaster Pete Wells in the final round of the 2025 British Chess Championships in Liverpool on Sunday.

At 10 years, five months and three days, Sivanandan broke the record set by American Carissa Yip, who was 10 years, 11 months and 20 days old when she defeated a grand master in 2019, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Sivanandan has now earned woman international master status, one level below the female-exclusive woman grandmaster title; the highest title in chess is grandmaster, owned by the likes of current world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju and world No. 1 Magnus Carlse

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