Carissa Yip: Youngest US Chess Expert in History is 9-Year-Old Massachusetts Girl
A nine-year-old Massachusetts girl now holds the title as the youngest US chess expert, besting more than 51,000 players registered with the US Chess Federation.
Only three years after getting into the game of chess, Carissa Yip, a fifth-grader at McCarthy Middle School, propelled herself to the top of the rankings making her the youngest player who has reached the expert level at the chess federation since 1991.
Now, Carissa sits in the top 7 percent of all US Chess Federation players. But she is in no way intimidated by these rankings and is even hesitant when asked about her impressive accomplishments.
In a story by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, her father and mentor Percy Yip shared, "Some never reach master level. From expert to master, it's a huge jump." But there's definitely no stopping Carrissa from reaching master level soon. Her father added that she could even reach master level in as soon as a year.
Young Carissa also amazed a crowd by playing chess without looking -- she had her back turned to the board the whole time while dictating her moves to her father and keeping mental track of the board game.
In the same story by the Star Tribune, Nathan Smolensky, the president of the Massachusetts Chess Association, shared his own admiration of Carissa's achievements, "This was not a record she won by a few days. It was a significant margin. So it's very impressive."
He even added that among Carissa's peers none of them displayed the same level of skill when they were her age.
If Carissa makes it to master level in three years then she will be setting another record for herself as the youngest to step into the master level. She also dreams of becoming the first woman to take home the overall championship.