^{Bodhana at Number 10 Downing Street, where she met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.}

Bodhana Sivanandan, an 8-year-old British Tamil from London, astonished the chess world at The European Blitz Chess Championship this weekend where she was crowned best female player.

Sivanandan, from Harrow in North-West London, defeated international master and England women's coach Lorin D'Costa, who is more than 30 years her senior, before drawing with two-time Romanian champion grandmaster Vladislav Nevednichy, 54, in the final round.

In doing so, she became the youngest player to avoid defeat against a grandmaster in a competitive game and took the first prize for women at the event.

The European Chess Union said the "super-talented" eight-year-old had achieved an "astonishing result".

Professional chess player Irina Bulmaga heralded her "unbelievable" performance, noting how Bodhana had taken first prize "ahead of me a bunch of other experienced players".

"What a phenomenon she is," Bulmaga added.

Bodhana’s father, Sivanandan Velayutham, said his daughter had actually started out discovering chess “accidentally”. "She likes chess and she likes travelling. We keep trying and keep going," he added.

Dominic Lawson, president of the English Chess Federation, said her performance was “completely remarkable but not that surprising, because she is a phenomenon”.

She will next be in action at the International Chess Congress in Hastings, on December 28.