At 11 years and seven months, Bodhana Sivanandan just broke a chess record that stood for 38 years

Judit Polgar was 12 when she became an International Master in 1988 — a mark that survived 38 years and belonged to the strongest female player in chess history. On Friday at the European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro, 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan of Harrow, London, beat Sweden's Viktoria Johansson in the final round to complete her third and final IM norm, with a rating performance of 2465, making her the youngest girl ever to earn the open title — and the seventh-youngest player of any gender in history. 'I'm happy about that,' she said afterwards, 'but hopefully I'm able to get grandmaster soon as well.'