Title: Woman FIDE Master
Player Rating: 2028 (June 2026)

Biography

Thirteen-year-old Irene Fei of Ames, Iowa, is one the youngest player competing in this 2026 US Girls Closed Championship. Irene qualified by winning the U.S. Open WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions last summer in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was despite being the seventh seed going into the competition. Earlier in the year Irene competed in the Kasparov Chess Federation All-Girls National Chess Championship in Chicago, finishing as a co-runner-up in the Under-18 section.

Irene earned her Women’s FIDE Master title in October 2024 after winning gold at the FIDE Pan-American School Chess Championship in Asunción, Paraguay. Before that, she also earned a Candidate Master title by winning the U9 World School Chess Championship in 2022 

This past March Irene’s USCF rating crossed over 2200 USCF earning her the National Master title. She is already the strongest woman in the history of Iowa chess.