The Field
Alice Lee
Alice Lee is an American chess FIDE Master and Woman International Master. She is a three-time gold medalist at the FIDE World Cadet and Youth Championships. She won the under-10 girls' division in 2019 (in person), the under-12 girls' division in 2020 (online), and the under-12 girls division in 2021 (both World Cup and Super Final). Lee became a US Chess national master at the age of 10. She won the under-18 girls' division of the 2021 North American Youth Championships for a direct WIM title. In 2022, Lee earned her FM title and an IM and WGM norm at the Southwest Class Championships. She finished 2nd place in the Women's section of the 2022 American Cup. This is her 3rd time participating in the U.S. Junior Girls Championship.
Jennifer Yu
Jennifer Yu is an American Woman Grandmaster and FIDE Master. In 2014, Yu took home a gold medal at the World Youth Championship in the Girls U12 section. She was the first American girl to do so in 27 years. She has also won the National Girls Tournament of Champions three times in addition to a bronze medal at the 2017 World Junior Girl’s Championship. She has played for the US multiple times in team events. Yu competed on the U.S. Women’s Olympiad team for the first time in 2018 where she earned an individual bronze medal. In 2019, Yu became the US Women’s Champion by scoring 10/11 points at the US Women’s Championship and won the tournament by a wide margin. She is currently a student at Harvard.
Ruiyang Yan
Ruiyang Yan is an American chess FIDE Master. Her accomplishments include 3rd in 2019 World Cadets, and participating in 3 U.S. Junior Girls' Championships. She received third place for the 2019 US Girls' Junior Championship, second place in the 2021 US Girls' Junior Championship and first place in the 2021 Ruth Haring National Open tournament.
Rochelle Wu
Rochelle started playing chess at the age of six. She won the gold medal in the 2016 World Cadet Chess Championship U10 Girls section. In 2017, Rochelle took first place in the National Girls Tournament of Champions. At the age of 11, she earned her National Master title. Rochelle earned the WIM title and a WGM norm by winning the 2018 North American Junior Girls Championship. In 2019, Rochelle broke the record for the youngest ever player to represent the US in an Olympiad or World Team and celebrated her 13th birthday at the World Team Championship in Kazakhstan. With her success as a young player, she has been invited to participate in the Young Stars program, a chess training program coached by Garry Kasparov.
Thalia Cervantes Landeiro
Thalia Cervantes Landeiro is a 19 year-old Woman Grandmaster and FIDE Master originally from Cuba. She currently has one International Master Norm and just finished her freshman year at Saint Louis University.
Anne-Marie Velea
Anne-Marie started playing chess at eleven years old after she was introduced to the game by her dad. Shortly afterwards she joined her school's chess club where her passion for chess began to grow and inspired her to sign up for her first tournament. Today Anne-Marie holds the titles of National Master and Woman FIDE Master which she earned in 2019 by winning gold in the Panamerican Youth Championship U14 girls. In 2021, she won a chess scholarship to Webster University. Anne-Marie is currently the Washington State Girls Champion and will be representing her state at the Haring Tournament Of Champions for the third time this summer. Besides chess, she enjoys writing and playing tennis.
Zoey Tang
Zoey has the titles of Woman FIDE Master and National Master, both of which she won in 2021 by winning the North American Youth Chess Championships girls 14 section. She has tied for second place in the 2019 17th annual Susan Polgar Girl's Invitational, as well as tying for first in the 2021 National Women's Open. Zoey also enjoys playing the piano, studying math, playing tennis, and reading.
Sophie Morris-Suzuki
Sophie Morris-Suzuki was a relatively late starter in chess who learned the rules at the age of 11. It didn't take long for Sophie to start playing in tournaments, and Sophie soon found competitive success. Sophie's first major achievement was taking second place in the U14 section of the 2016 All-Girls National Championship. The following year, Sophie won the 2017 New York Girls State Championship and the U18 section of the 2017 All-Girls National Championship. Sophie is a returning competitor from the 2018 and 2020 US Girls' Junior Championships. Outside of chess, Sophie is an avid music enthusiast and enjoys writing songs.
Ellen Wang
WIM Ellen Wang is a rising 10th grader at Horace Mann School in New York. Since starting chess at the age of 6, she has taken home numerous regional, national, and international medals. Most notably, Ellen is a two-time champion of the North American Junior Girls Chess Championships, winning in both 2020 and 2021, and therefore was awarded the WIM title and two WGM norms. In 2017, Ellen won three international medals in one summer: Bronze at the Pan American Chess Championships G10, Gold at the North American Youth Chess Championships G14, and Bronze at the World Cadets Chess Championships G10. She was also the 2018 Pan American Chess Championships G12 bronze medalist, the 2019 K-6 Co-Champion of the Greater New York Scholastic Chess Championships, and the 2021 New York State All-Girls Co-Champion. In 2021, she earned the US National Master title. Additionally, Ellen is a founding member of Unruly Queens, the 2020 USATE second-place winning team and the best-performing all-female team in the tournament’s history.
Gracy Prasanna
Gracy has been playing chess since she was nine, when she won her first tournament. Since then, she has enjoyed competing in various tournaments and meeting new people. She received her Woman Fide Master title in August 2021 and her National Master title in September of 2021. She is looking to pursue a degree in neuroscience, and is also interested in psychology, debate, writing, and playing the piano.