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

Update, August 18, 2025: This article has been updated to reflect the circumstances of GM Bryan Smith’s record-breaking loss. An earlier version of the annotations for this article incorrectly suggested Smith was sitting at the board when he lost on time.

Since then, Smith has reached out to explain that he, in fact, was unaware of the time control for the event, and was away from the board when his flag fell. He has requested this article be updated to reflect this fact, as the original article, based on a good faith reporting of the game with the information that was available at the time, stated that his loss was a result of time trouble. His account of the circumstances surrounding the loss can be found at the end of the updated annotations, embedded below.

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. But the clock is a factor. Sivanandan was able to pose just enough questions to put Wells under tremendous time pressure. 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.

The clock was also a factor in Smith's loss, albeit for different reasons: Jha had a difficult position to defend in a slower, more maneuvering game, with Smith on the precipice of breaking through before losing on time due to mistakenly believing there would be bonus time added after move 40.