The Field
Awonder Liang
Awonder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 9, 2003, and has lived there his whole life. He currently attends the University of Chicago. Awonder is also a two-time World Youth chess champion, as well as creator and keeper of many youth chess records. Liang is the second youngest US player ever to achieve the International Master title, and the third youngest to achieve the GM title. Liang is the three-time 2017, 2018, and 2019 champion at this event, and will hope to make it a fourth this year.
Christopher Yoo
Christopher is a 15-year old Korean-American Grandmaster. He is the youngest ever to beat a FIDE-rated 2700+ "Super GM" and the youngest ever California State Champion. He recently qualified for the 2023 FIDE World Cup by finishing second at the 2022 American Continental Championship. In 2021, he placed 2nd to GM Praggnanandhaa in the finals of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour, which featured many of the strongest juniors in the world. Christopher is also an award-winning composer of endgame studies and earned a bronze medal in the 2019 FIDE World Cup in Composing.
Abhimanyu Mishra
Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess Grandmaster. He is an ambitious and hard working player who holds all the youngest international and national records, including youngest person ever to qualify as a Grandmaster, making the achievement at 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.
In June of 2021, Mishra secured his third Grandmaster norm at the age of 12 years and 4 months old. Recently, Mishra won in the 2022 Saint Louis Spring Classic Group B and tied for 2nd in strong Reykjavik Open 2022.
Brandon Jacobson
Brandon Jacobson is an American chess Grandmaster. He became a FIDE Master in 2017, an International Master in 2018, and was awarded the Grandmaster title in 2020. He is also an undergraduate student of Columbia University, majoring in economics.
Andrew Hong
When Andrew began competing in tournaments, he quickly rose to the top of his age group - achieving the National Master title just a couple months after turning 10. In 2018, he became an International Master after reaching 2400 and scoring his final IM norm here in Saint Louis at the 2018 Saint Louis Invitational. Andrew achieved his GM title in 2021 at the Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy Labor Day Norm. Outside of chess, Andrew enjoys playing basketball.
Balaji Daggupati
Balaji Daggupati is an American Grandmaster-elect. He started playing chess at the age of 5 and was quickly captivated by it. He became a National Master at the age of 11, a FIDE master at the age of 12, and an International Master at the age of 16. He earned his first GM norm in 2021 at the age of 16 with his next 2 norms following shortly thereafter. He recently received the rating required for the GM title at the 2022 Saint Louis Norm Congress. Other past chess accomplishments include the 2019 US Class Co-Champion and he was a part of the US team for the 2019 World U16 Olympiad. He was also recently a participant in the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour playing against some of the strongest juniors in the world. Outside of chess he enjoys playing sports, such as basketball and football, and also enjoys Computer Science.
David Brodsky
David Brodsky learned to play chess at the age of 6 and started taking chess lessons when he was 7. He became a National Master and FIDE Master at 11 and an International Master at 14. He earned his third Grandmaster norm at the 2019 US Masters and has almost reached the 2500 FIDE. Brodsky won the 2014 North American Youth Championships and the 2018 US Cadets Championships and played on board 1 for the US at the 2018 World U16 Olympiad. He has won or tied for first in several open tournaments and earned 6th place in the 2019 US Chess Grand Prix. Outside of chess, Brodsky is a computer science and mathematics double major in the Computing Honors Program at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he is a member of the collegiate chess team.
Justin Wang
Justin started to play chess when he was seven years old. In 2015, just three years after the start of his chess career, he became a USCF National Master. He has previously played well in Saint Louis, winning the 2017 Saint Louis Invitational after defeating IM Torres Rosas and scoring his first IM norm. Justin then went on to score a second IM norm at the 2018 World Open and came back to Saint Louis to score his third and final IM norm by winning the IM section of the Saint Louis Invitational. Besides chess, Justin enjoys math and music.
Carissa Yip
Carissa Yip is one of the top female chess players in America. Known for her creativity over the board, Yip has been on a record-shattering pace ever since she learned how to play the game from her father at age 6. Three years later, at age 9, she became the youngest ever female player to reach the Expert level. Two years later, she broke the record for youngest female to achieve the title of National Master at the age of 11 years, 5 months, and 18 days. Along the way to Master, she set the record for youngest female player to beat a Grandmaster for her win against GM Alexander Ivanov in the New England Open a few days before her 11th birthday. Yip is a three-time U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion and this year she will make her debut in the 2022 U.S. Junior field as the tournament wildcard.
Pedro Espinosa
Pedro Espinosa is a National Master from New York City and recently won the 2021 US Junior Open. Pedro will also attend Williams College in the Fall.