With her victory at the age of 11, Sivanandan became the youngest ever British Women’s Champion.
The record for the youngest single winner of the title was held by Eileen Pritchard, who won the championship in 1939 at the age of thirteen, while Akshaya Kalayalahan shared the title in 2013, days before she turned twelve.
Sivanandan succeeded in crossing double digits.
Her path to the title was not easy, as she participated in the tournament alongside older and more experienced players, male and female, and suffered only one loss during the competition, to Shreyas Royal, who in turn was crowned British champion in the open competition.
Sivanandan also achieved one of her most notable results during the tournament by defeating the grandmaster Amit Ghassi. Starting with a bag
But Sivanandan’s chess story began a few years ago, by pure coincidence.
During the lockdown period associated with the Corona pandemic, the girl found a board and chess pieces inside a bag in her family’s home, starting her journey with the game when she was five years old.
She learned the basic rules of chess from her father, before her talent quickly developed and she began competing. The English Chess Federation confirms that its beginning actually came during the lockdown period after it found a chess set inside a bag.
From that simple beginning, Sivanandan has transformed, within a few years, into one of the most prominent emerging talents in British chess.
