Erigaisi held, Sivanandan excels @ Rhodes
When a 10-year-old stuns a former Women’s World Champion, it possibly signifies a big time arrival. The first round of the European Chess Club Cup 2025, Rhodes took off to a spectacular start when WIM Bodhana Sivanandan (DOB 7th March, 2015) out smarted former Women’s World Champion Mariya Muzychuk.
On the Open section, higher seeds coasted to comfortable wins with only World No. 4 Erigaisi Arjun shedding half a point to IM Saraci Nderim (ELO 2445). In key top board results HWP Haarlem from the Netherlands went down to top seeds BayeganPendik chess sports from Türkiye 1-5 when lower rated FM Duijn Richard (2179) & Mazajchik Tim (2139) held GMs Alekseenko Kirill (2679)& Can Emre (2552) to draws.
In other minor upsets, former World Junior Champion Nogerbek Kazybek (2543) drew with IM Richard Bates (2282), while Argentine prodigy IM Faustino Oro (2509) dropped half a point against CM Manmay Chopra (2185).
The Sicilian Defense Moscow variation game saw Sivanandan mesmerize Muzychuk with some brilliant middle-game play. Swinging her queen and rooks deftly on either side Sivanandan wrapped up the game in 36 moves.
In an era where kids keep making history at the drop of the hat, Sivanandan has been a consistent performer at the highest level putting her age on the shade. Last year, a much younger Sivanandan turned up for Team England in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest. This made her the youngest person to ever be chosen for a full England team in any sport.
During July 2025, Bodhana Sivanandan became the youngest chess player to earn a Woman Grandmaster Norm overtaking former Women’s world champion Hou Yifan, who achieved a WGM Norm as a 11-year-old in 2005. More will come from this prodigy who’d see the long standing records tumbling wayside.
The second round starts today by 3 PM local time.
Round 1 Results (Open): HWP Haarlem lost to BayeganPendik chess sports 1-5, Alkaloid beat Dardania 5.5 – 0.5, Baerum Schakselskap lost to Novy Bor 0-6, SuperChess beat SK 1911 6-0, Tammer-Shakki lost to Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub 0-6, Vugar Gashimov beat Blackthrone 5.5-0.5
Round 1 Results (Women): Cercle d’échecs de Monte-Carlo beat SK Zmaj 3.5 – 0.5, She plays to win Lionesses #1 lost to Turkish Airlines sports club 1-3, Tajfun SK Ljubljana beat De Stukkenjagers 4-0, Gostivar club lost to SuperChess 0.5-3.5, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica beat ISL Federation 4-0, Aris Thessalonikis lost to CE Gambit Bonnevoie 0-4
Sivanandan Bodhana (2205) – Muzychuk Mariya (2485) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bxd7+ Bxd7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. Nbd2 Bc6 10. Nc4 Be7 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Rad1 b5 13. Ne3 Rg8 14. Kh1 Qc7 15. Rfe1 O-O-O 16. c4 b4 17. a3 Qb7 18. Nd2 b3 19. Rc1 f5 20. Nd5 Bg5 21. Rc3 Bxd2 22. Qxd2 fxe4 23. Qe3 Bxd5 24. cxd5+ Kd7 25. Qf4 Ke8 26. Qxe4 Rg6 27. Qf3 Rb8 28. Rc6 e5 29. Rec1 Kd8 30. Qh3 h6 31. Qh4+ Kd7 32. Qc4 Qb5 33. Rc7+ Ke8 34. Qh4 f6 35. Qh5 Qd3
36. Rg7 1-0
Erigaisi Arjun (2773) – Saraci Nderim (2445) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nc4 Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Ne3 Nf6 7. d4 g6 8. g3 Bg7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O d5 11. b3 Re8 12. Ba3 Qd8 13. Nd2 Nc6 14. c3 Ne7 15. Nf3 c6 16. Ne5 Nf5 17. Rad1 Be6 18. Bc1 Nxe3 19. Bxe3 Qc8 20. f3 Bh3 21. Qd2 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Nd7 23. Nd3 a5 24. g4 a4 25. Rf2 axb3 26. axb3 Ra3 27. Qb2 Ra7 28. Re2 b6 29. Rde1 Nf8 30. Bf2 Rxe2 31. Qxe2 Ne6 32. f4 Ra8 33. Qf3 Ra2 34. h4 Nf8 35. f5 gxf5 36. gxf5 Nd7 37. Nf4 Nf6 38. Nh5 Nxh5 39. Qxh5 Qf8 40. Qf3 Bf6 41. Kh3 h6 42. Be3 Kh7 43. Rg1 Rc2 44. Bf4 Qe8 45. Qg3 Qc8 46. Qd3 Rf2 47. Bxh6 Qb8 48. Qg3 Qxg3+ 49. Kxg3 Bxh4+ 50. Kxh4 Kxh6
51. Kg4 1/2-1/2
Photo courtesy: European Chess Union
