Yip Becomes Youngest American Female IM Ever
With her 5.0/9 score at the 2019 SPICE Cup, which included two draws and a win against grandmasters, Carissa Yip has unofficially become the youngest female international master in U.S. history (pending certification from FIDE).
Her third and final norm came this past weekend at the annual St. Louis event. She had previously crossed 2400 in late summer. At 16 years, one month, and 18 days old, Yip beat the record of now-GM Irina Krush by more than one year.
Yip is now running through titles like she's running through tournament wins. The high schooler from Massachusetts began the summer as an FM, and in July made WGM. The ink on the certificate is barely dry, and now the teenager will become an IM.
Just take a look at her last few months. Yip is the chess version of Newton's first law; once she got going no one has been able to slow her down:
- June 2019: Wins 2019 North American Junior Girls' Championship
- July 2019: Wins 2019 U.S. Junior Girls' Championship, becomes youngest American WGM
- August 2019: Earns second IM norm at U.S. Masters Championship
- September 2019: Becomes highest-rated American female (2425) after picking up 125 points in previous month
- October 2019: Earns third and final IM norm, becoming youngest American female IM
She seems to have a particular affinity for the state of North Carolina. Her first IM norm came last summer at a norm tournament in Charlotte. Her second came in Greensboro this year at the U.S. Masters, and her North American Junior Girls' Championship was also in Charlotte.
At the SPICE Cup, she made her run in rounds 4-6, scoring two draws and a win against a trio of GMs. Here in round five she spoiled a better position. But later Yip found a study-like win when her opponent, the youngest-ever player to reach 2600, went awry (but with a fantastic idea!).
One round later, Yip played a short but very entertaining draw with the tournament's defending co-champion and this year's top seed, GM Illya Nyzhnyk.
Nyzhnyk would end up needing that half-point. He finished on 6.0/9 in a large tie for second, just behind the tournament's winner, GM Akshat Chandra.
Here are the final standings.
Yip is now the youngest-ever American female to make expert, master, WGM and IM. Since only two American women have made GM, that's the only other record left for her.
One of those two is this tournament's host, GM Susan Polgar, who made the title before transferring to the U.S. The other is Krush, who became a grandmaster at the age of 29, thus giving Yip more than a dozen years to go after that mark.
To follow more of Yip's journey from ChessKid star to the U.S. number-one female, check out her library of videos on ChessKid and also her articles, many of which include self-annotated games.
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
