Girls over GMs: 2 Break Yip's Record in One Weekend

For over a decade, IM Carissa Yip held the world record as the youngest girl to beat a grandmaster in a FIDE-rated classical game of chess, at the age of 10 years, 11 months, and 20 days. Almost 11 years later, two players have broken Yip’s record — one in England; the other in the U.S. — only a day apart.

England’s WFM Bodhana Sivanandan, has received plenty of coverage since becoming the youngest member of any national team in last year’s FIDE Olympiad. On Saturday, Aug. 9, she defeated GM Peter Wells in the final round of the 2025 British Chess Championships, clocking in at only 10 years, five months, and three days old. She also became eligible for the WIM title with her 5/9 score.

British prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan with WGM Jovanka Houska at the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship. (Photo courtesy FIDE/Rafal Oleksiewicz)

On Sunday, Aug. 10, Ohio’s Keya Jha defeated GM Bryan Smith in the final round of the 2025 Joe Yun Memorial in Akron, Ohio, to win the tournament with a 4½/5 score at the age of 10 years, nine months, and two days.

Keya Jha. (Courtesy subject)

While roughly four months older than Sivanandan, Jha was still more than two months ahead of Yip's record, making her the youngest American girl to beat a grandmaster in a FIDE-rated game. Jha also picked up 76 US Chess rating points to reach a personal best of 2179, only 21 points away from the national master title.

Both victories are annotated below. As is often the case with young talent, neither game was smooth. Sivanandan was in tactical danger at several points throughout the game, including at the very end. Jha had a difficult position to defend in a slower, more maneuvering game, with Smith on the precipice of breaking through.

But, as is also often the case with young talent, the clock is a factor. Sivanandan was able to pose just enough questions to put Wells under tremendous time pressure, and Jha offered just enough resistance to actually flag her opponent in a game with a 30-second increment. Rather than only look at the computer’s evaluations, remember that grandmasters do not get into such time trouble unless they have faced remarkable pushback.