England’s rising chess sensation Bodhana Sivanandan continues to rewrite the record books after producing the biggest victory of her young career by defeating French Grandmaster Marc’Andria Maurizzi at the Dole Trophy in Aix-en-Provence.
The 11-year-old Harrow schoolgirl stunned Maurizzi, the reigning French champion and the 2023 World Under-20 champion, in the opening round of the prestigious tournament. With a FIDE rating of 2628, Maurizzi became the highest-rated grandmaster Sivanandan has defeated to date.
Although the French grandmaster controlled much of the game during the opening stages, the momentum shifted dramatically after move 27 when Maurizzi made a costly tactical mistake that allowed Sivanandan to win his queen, leaving him with insufficient compensation. The remarkable victory established a new world age record for the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600.
The previous record belonged to legendary Hungarian chess icon Judit Polgar, who defeated Grandmaster Lajos Portisch during the 1988 Hungarian Championship at the age of 12 years and two months. Portisch was a former World Championship challenger and one of the strongest players of his era. At just 11 years and four months old, Sivanandan also became the fifth-youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600. She joins an elite list that includes Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who achieved the feat at age nine, Faustino Oro at 10, and Roman Shogdzhiev and R. Praggnanandhaa at 11 years and one month.
Sivanandan was unable to extend her winning start in the second round, where she lost to Israeli International Master Benny Aizenberg. However, she bounced back impressively in the third round by holding Israeli Grandmaster Maxim Rodshtein to a draw. Rodshtein, currently Israel’s second-highest-ranked player, reached a peak FIDE rating of 2710 and has previously won both the Israeli Championship and the prestigious Rilton Cup in Stockholm.
After six of the tournament’s nine rounds, Sivanandan had collected three points against a field dominated by significantly higher-rated opponents, keeping her firmly in contention for her second Women’s Grandmaster (WGM) norm. She earned her first WGM norm at the age of 10 during the same Dole Open in 2025, setting another world age record and further cementing her status as one of the brightest young talents in world chess.