Nine-year-old girl to make history representing England | Newsround

Nineyearold girl to make history At nine years old, Bodhana has made history as the youngest ever person to represent England in any sport. The sport? Chess, of course. She'll be taking part in the Chess Olympiad in Hungary later this year, competing against adults. But she's no stranger to big competitions. She's already chess world champion for girls under eight. This one I won last year in Egypt for the World Under Eight Girls Championships. I can stay calm, but like sometimes, um it does get a bit more tense. How she started playing chess Bodhana started playing the game when she was just five. It was during the coronavirus pandemic when people were told to stay in their homes. My dad's friend was going back to India and he had a few books and toys, so he gave us them in bags and then in one of the bags I found a chessboard. And, I liked the pieces, especially the knight and queen. And I wanted to use them as toys, but instead my dad said I could, play the game. How she inspired her school She's inspired her school to start a chess club as she's so good she can play against eight of her friends at once. I think she's a brilliant chess player, and that she’s really inspired our school to play chess. I think she's very exceptional, and I think she's really introduced chess into our school because now we have a chess club. But before we didn't have anything to do with chess, but now we have like chess boards and chess club. I think that one day she could just be number one in the world at chess. I'm trying to become one of the greatest players of all time, and also the youngest grandmaster in the world.

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