Carissa Yip


Carissa Shiwen Yip is an American chess player. In September 2019, she was the top rated female player in the United States and the youngest female chess player to defeat a grandmaster, which she did at age ten. In October 2019, she became the youngest American woman in history to qualify for the title of International Master.

Early life and career

Carissa Shiwen Yip was born on September 10, 2003, in Boston. Her father Percy Yip was from Hong Kong, and her mother Irene Yip was from mainland China.
Taught chess moves at age six by her father, within six months she was able to beat him. Soon, she became the best eight-year-old girl chess player in the country. In 2013, at the age of ten, she became the youngest female player to qualify for the USCF title of Expert in history, and in 2015, at eleven years old, she became a USCF master.
Her first victory against a grandmaster came on August 30, 2014, when she defeated Alexander Ivanov at the New England Open. At ten years of age, she was the youngest female chess player ever to beat a grandmaster.
Yip competed in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship for the first time in 2016; she finished 9th out of 12, scoring 4½ points out of 11. In 2017, she scored 4/11, finishing 11th. In 2019, she finished 8th, with a score of 4½/11. In late June 2019, she won the North American Junior Girls' Championship with a score of 8½/9, earning the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster in the process. She subsequently scored 7½/9 to win the 2019 U.S. Junior Girls' Championship, earning an invitation to the 2020 U.S. Women's Championship.
Her performance at the 2019 SPICE Cup, where she scored 5/9, made her the youngest American woman in history to earn the title of International Master. FIDE awarded her the title in February 2020.

Notable games

Carissa Shiwen Yip vs Alexander Vladimirovich Ivanov. Modern Defense: Standard Line 1-0. Ignoring a pin on the b-file, Yip earns her first win against a Grandmaster.
Carissa Shiwen Yip vs Irina Krush, 2016 US Chess Championship. Sicilian Defense: Kan. Yip defeats a six-time US Women's Champion. The final position contains a problem-like move.