Carissa Yip

At just 17 years of age, Carissa Yip has quickly become one of the top female 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. In 2019, she took clear first at the Girls’ Junior Championship with a score of seven out of nine, defending her title from 2018. This year, she competed at the 2020 Cairns Cup where she defeated players such as Women’s World Champion GM Wenjun Ju, 2019 Cairns Cup Champion, GM Valentina Gunina, and GM Irina Krush.