Sivanandan, Age 10, Conquers GM Muzychuk
Two weeks ago, 15-year-old Lu Miaoyi scored a win over top Women’s player Tan Zhongyi. On Sunday, we had an even more outstanding result: 10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan of England defeated Mariya Muzychuk, rated 2485, in a 260-point upset at the European Club Cup.
Sivanandan is currently a WIM, and at such a young age, it is impossible to predict how far she will go. Indeed, she already picked up a WGM norm in July, surpassing Hou Yifan as the youngest player to do so. Now, she has taken another grand step on her path.
With the white pieces, Sivanandan played an early Bb5 against Muzychuk’s Sicilian, and the game entered a middlegame with two white knights against two black bishops. It hovered on either side of equals, until Muzychuk took a risk by castling queenside.
15. …f5! would have made progress on opening lines towards White’s king, but 15. …O-O-O? left the black king more vulnerable, 16. c4!.
A few moves later, Sivanandan got a chance for a classic Sicilian tactic: 20. Nd5!.
If the knight is taken, Black must return the light square bishop due to a pin on the c-file. Muzychuk wisely opted not to capture, so it sat on its perch for another three moves before Black finally swapped their bishop.
But then, the black king is pushed back into the centre, and it never found safety again. Sivanandan put together a steady conversion, her major pieces dominating Black’s, and the game ended in the following position with the machine counting mate in 10.
Black loses the rook on g6, and the king will be caught soon after. A marvelous result. You can view the full game, and the rest of the event, on Lichess.
Photo via Leon Watson
