Carissa Yip

Carissa Yip is an American International Master and three-time U.S. Women’s Champion, as well as the top-rated woman in the United States. A chess prodigy, Yip was the youngest female chess player to beat a Grandmaster at only ten years old. Yip’s tournament achievements include winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship three straight years from 2018 through 2020, as well as the 2021, 2023, and 2024 U.S. Women’s Championship. Yip also set records for being the youngest American woman to achieve the titles of Expert, National Master, and International Master in history. Yip represented the U.S. National Team in both the 2022 and 2024 Chess Olympiads, achieving fourth in 2022 while earning an individual gold medal and team bronze in the 2024 Budapest Olympiad. 2025 will be Yip’s second Cairns Cup appearance after her debut in the event in 2020. Yip is aspiring to achieve Grandmaster norms, and win the prestigious Cairns Chess Queens Award, a prize awarded to the first five women to achieve the Grandmaster title in the United States.