Carissa Yip: Youngest Female Master Ever!

 

She just keeps breaking records.

Carissa Yip, 11, is already in the record books for beating a grandmaster at age 10. Now she is also the youngest American girl to become a national master.

She broke the record set less than a year ago by Annie Wang, whose mark was eclipsed by about four months.

Carissa beat two masters in the Legends of Chess Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts on February 21, 2015 en route to earning the title. Her only "blemish" was a first-round bye; even so 3.5/4 was good enough to tie for first!

The last-round win over a 2300 almost didn't happen. Read Carissa's annotations to see the explanation:

She didn't officially earn the title until a few days ago, when a weekly chess club rated the monthly series she participated in, and her rating nudged over 2200.

"I hope that the record can bring more opportunities for me to participate in more strong and invitational tournaments," Carissa told ChessKid.com. "It takes hard work to reach master, and there are a lot of ups and downs but in the end it's worth it."

Carissa is well known to the ChessKid.com community. She played in both the 2013 and 2014 USA-Polgar Youth Match, and she won the 2013 ChessKid Online National Invitational Championship for the Under-10 section.

She also tied for second place at the 2013 World Youth Championships.

NM Carissa Yip, the youngest female master in U.S. history

Less than a year ago, Carissa also broke an esteemed record. She defeated local Grandmaster Alex Ivanov in a classical game. Research suggests she was the youngest in the world ever to do so.

She was days shy of her 11th birthday, while GM Judit Polgar's Wikipedia page lists GM Lev Gutman as her first grandmaster scalp. Polgar was 12. GM Irina Krush, now the top American woman, didn't defeat her first GM (Alex Stripunksy) until she was 13, according to USCF records.

Carissa was also the youngest USCF Expert in history at the age of nine.