European Club Cup 2025

[LawrenceCooper]

Starting today with six English teams in the open and three in the women's event. First round ties include Cheddleton v White Rose!

https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1250658 ... 0&SNode=S0
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1250660 ... 0&SNode=S0

Pairings include Bodhana facing Mariya Muzychuk!

[Ian Thompson]

Starting today with six English teams in the open and three in the women's event.

Streatham and Brixton don't look very English to me!

[LawrenceCooper]

Live games:

https://lichess.org/broadcast/european- ... 1/kE0eRJwn
https://lichess.org/broadcast/european- ... dMY#boards

[Jonathan Rogers]

Bodhana's position certainly looks very good to this human's eyes (and "encouraging" to the engine).

Others will know better than me, but is the women's team playing on board one, with Paehtz on board four, simply the strongest by miles?

[LawrenceCooper]

Others will know better than me, but is the women's team playing on board one, with Paehtz on board four, simply the strongest by miles?

Their board one is resting today so it's actually their 2-5 in action today. The team with two Muzychuks will hopefully be competitive but the Monte Carlo team have been rating favorites for as long as I can remember despite having not won it since 2018.

[Jonathan Rogers]

very smooth win! Not her first win against a GM, but the manner of it seems significant. (And Leonard's next column is probably mostly written already...)

[Mick Norris]

Great result, that must be her best so far?

[LawrenceCooper]

https://x.com/ECUonline/status/1979939464991690858
https://x.com/ECUonline/status/1979924781311901921

[Christopher Kreuzer]

https://x.com/ECUonline/status/1979939464991690858
https://x.com/ECUonline/status/1979924781311901921

First one:

10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan makes a huge upset and wins against former Women's World Chess Champion GM Mariya Muzychuk!

Her team She Plays to Win Lionesses is the 12th-seeded in the tournament, and now has 1-0 edge over the 2nd-seeded Turkish Airlines sports club!

Second one:

10-year-old England's rising chess star Bodhana Sivanandan finds a stunning 20.Nd5!! and she has a winning position against former Women's World Chess Champion GM Mariya Muzychuk!

This might be the first major upset of the European Women's Chess Club Cup 2025!

[Event "Round 1: Sivanandan, Bodhana - Muzychuk, Mariya"] [Site "https://lichess.org/broadcast/european- ... n/OM0AbcS6"] [Date "2025.10.19"] [Round "1.5"] [White "Sivanandan, Bodhana"] [Black "Muzychuk, Mariya"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2205"] [WhiteTitle "WFM"] [WhiteTeam "She plays to win Lionesses #1"] [WhiteFideId "497592"] [BlackElo "2485"] [BlackTitle "GM"] [BlackTeam "Turkish Airlines sports club"] [BlackFideId "14114550"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B51"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Moscow Variation"] [UTCDate "2025.10.19"] [UTCTime "16:55:35"] [BroadcastName "European Chess Club Cup 2025 | Women"] [BroadcastURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/european- ... 1/kE0eRJwn"] [GameURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/european- ... n/OM0AbcS6"] 1. e4 { [%clk 1:30:51] } 1... c5 { [%clk 1:30:55] } 2. Nf3 { [%clk 1:31:04] } 2... d6 { [%clk 1:31:19] } 3. Bb5+ { [%clk 1:31:06] } 3... Nd7 { [%clk 1:31:45] } 4. O-O { [%clk 1:31:03] } 4... a6 { [%clk 1:32:09] } 5. Bxd7+ { [%clk 1:31:10] } 5... Bxd7 { [%clk 1:32:35] } 6. d4 { [%clk 1:31:07] } 6... cxd4 { [%clk 1:33:01] } 7. Qxd4 { [%clk 1:31:19] } 7... Nf6 { [%clk 1:33:25] } 8. Bg5 { [%clk 1:31:10] } 8... e6 { [%clk 1:33:40] } 9. Nbd2 { [%clk 1:31:01] } 9... Bc6 { [%clk 1:28:56] } 10. Nc4 { [%clk 1:29:57] } 10... Be7 { [%clk 1:16:03] } 11. Bxf6 { [%clk 1:12:43] } 11... gxf6 { [%clk 1:16:28] } 12. Rad1 { [%clk 1:09:44] } 12... b5 { [%clk 1:06:49] } 13. Ne3 { [%clk 0:55:15] } 13... Rg8 { [%clk 1:06:33] } 14. Kh1 { [%clk 0:54:20] } 14... Qc7 { [%clk 1:05:39] } 15. Rfe1 { [%clk 0:48:48] } 15... O-O-O { [%clk 1:00:11] } 16. c4 { [%clk 0:43:43] } 16... b4 { [%clk 0:48:16] } 17. a3 { [%clk 0:35:07] } 17... Qb7 { [%clk 0:43:54] } 18. Nd2 { [%clk 0:30:39] } 18... b3 { [%clk 0:32:30] } 19. Rc1 { [%clk 0:29:30] } 19... f5 { [%clk 0:30:12] } 20. Nd5 { [%clk 0:21:45] } 20... Bg5 { [%clk 0:21:21] } 21. Rc3 { [%clk 0:18:49] } 21... Bxd2 { [%clk 0:20:30] } 22. Qxd2 { [%clk 0:19:08] } 22... fxe4 { [%clk 0:17:47] } 23. Qe3 { [%clk 0:18:23] } 23... Bxd5 { [%clk 0:13:31] } 24. cxd5+ { [%clk 0:18:44] } 24... Kd7 { [%clk 0:13:55] } 25. Qf4 { [%clk 0:11:59] } 25... Ke8 { [%clk 0:06:44] } 26. Qxe4 { [%clk 0:10:57] } 26... Rg6 { [%clk 0:06:57] } 27. Qf3 { [%clk 0:09:49] } 27... Rb8 { [%clk 0:05:49] } 28. Rc6 { [%clk 0:09:20] } 28... e5 { [%clk 0:04:57] } 29. Rec1 { [%clk 0:09:22] } 29... Kd8 { [%clk 0:02:23] } 30. Qh3 { [%clk 0:06:09] } 30... h6 { [%clk 0:02:21] } 31. Qh4+ { [%clk 0:06:27] } 31... Kd7 { [%clk 0:01:54] } 32. Qc4 { [%clk 0:06:16] } 32... Qb5 { [%clk 0:01:47] } 33. Rc7+ { [%clk 0:06:38] } 33... Ke8 { [%clk 0:02:08] } 34. Qh4 { [%clk 0:06:55] } 34... f6 { [%clk 0:00:41] } 35. Qh5 { [%clk 0:06:59] } 35... Qd3 { [%clk 0:01:03] } 36. Rg7 { [%clk 0:07:16] } 1-0

Computer says the Nd5 tactic was possible for the three previous moves before Bodhana played it. Interesting.

Are not the real records the youngest person to beat a former World Chess Champion?

[LawrenceCooper]

Apart from the result itself the aggression she showed in the game was great to see. She does, sometimes, have a tendency to be a bit timid so seeing her attack like this was a joy to watch.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I also like the body language from Muzychuk in the Twitter photos that show the position where Bodhana is thinking about (and about to play) 28.Rc6. You can tell Muzychuk knows she is busted!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Are not the real records the youngest person to beat a former World Chess Champion?

Got this from an AI overview...

The youngest player to beat a former World Champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated Anatoly Karpov at the age of 12 years, 10 months, and 18 days in 2018.

So is Bodhana the new record holder for this record?

[Matt Mackenzie]

It is possible that answer is only covering male world champions.

[Nick Burrows]

Possibly the record was 12 year old Maia Chiburdanidze beating Nona Gaprindashvili?

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1285155

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Wow. Good find there Nick. Interesting that Maia played in the USSR Women's Championship at the age of 12. But not sure about the age. She may have been 13.

Do we have a date for that game? It says 1973-74 (she was born 17 January 1961). Also, her Wikipedia article (which may well be wrong) says:

Chiburdanidze won outright on her debut, at the Braşov women's international tournament of 1974, when she was only 13 years old