Girl, 11, is America's youngest female chess master and has plans to become world champion player
- Carissa Yip, 11, of Andover, Massachusetts beat a master chess player last month and earned title while also breaking record
- In 2013, she became youngest American to reach expert level
- Carissa began playing chess at age six and is now ranked 50th best female chess player in the country by United States Chess Federation
Carissa Yip from Andover, Massachusetts earned the title last month and became the youngest to ever to defeat a grandmaster, Alexander Ivanov, during the New England Open in 2014
An 11-year-old girl has become the youngest U.S. female to reach master level in chess.
Carissa Yip from Andover, Massachusetts earned the title last month and also became the youngest to ever to defeat a grandmaster, Alexander Ivanov, during the New England Open in 2014.
The sixth-grade student at Doherty Middle School picked up her first piece of chess five years ago, and since has been raking in accolades including becoming the youngest female expert in 2013.
And in February, she was ranked the 50th best female chess player in the country by the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF), 36th among U.S. born players, according to the Valley Dispatch.
'I'm really happy about breaking the record,' said Carissa.
Previously, Annie Wang held the title as the youngest female master, who broke Irina Krush's decade-long record in 2014, but Carissa has secured the top spot by four months, according to Andover Patch.
The young girl first learned chess after her father, Percy, an IT architect taught her until she began beating him within a year.
And it was only two years ago when Carissa had set a goal of reaching a rating of 2,100 - an expert is anyone over 2,000 and a master is anyone over 2,200.
However, now she is aiming to reach 2,300 later this year.
In the tournament that gave her the title as master during the February 21 Legends of Chess Tournament in Cambridge where she (Carissa pictured right) played against chess master, Chris Williams (left). While she was debating whether to even compete against Williams, in the end she listened to the advice from her father who said 'listen to your heart'
Carissa said she loves chess because it is a challenging game, according to the Boston Globe.
'I prefer to play with someone who's actually good,' she said.
But sometimes when she defeats opponents older than her, they do not always take the loss in stride.
Carissa said during one of her first tournaments, she beat a competitor at seven years old, who threw a tamper and said he did not like playing against kids.
As she strives towards her ultimate goal of becoming a world champion chess player, last month, she finished with a national rating of 2,203 which placed her with the best 1.5 per cent of all players in the USCF.
Magnus Carlsen, 24, of Norway has a rating of 2,863 and is the highest-ranked chess player in the world, according to the World Chess Federation.
In order to secure the title as grandmaster, she would have to have a rating of 2,500 on the international scale as well as having top results, which with her history is certainly attainable.
In February, she was ranked the 50th best female chess player in the country by the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF), 36th among U.S. born players (above Carissa with her Official Citation by the State Senate in recognition of her commitment to chess in 2013)
Her success in tournaments are due to the fact that she keeps her focus two to ten moves ahead of her opponent, as well as her ability to improvise - she can quickly adapt, finding a way to win.
In the tournament that gave her the title of master during the February 21 Legends of Chess Tournament in Cambridge, she played against master chess player Chris Williams.
While she was tired and exhausted from previous tournaments, and was debating whether to even compete against Williams, she listened to the advice from her father.
The young girl first learned chess after her father, Percy, an IT architect taught her until she began beating him within a year. Two years ago, Carissa set a goal of reaching a rating of 2,100 - an expert is anyone over 2,000 and a master is anyone over 2,200 - but now she is aiming to reach 2,300 later this year
The sixth-grade student at Doherty Middle School picked up her first piece of chess five years ago, and since has been raking in accolades including becoming the youngest female expert in 2013
She said: 'After two wins, I was very tired, and planned to withdraw after two games as I normally do. However, I wasn’t sure this time. I knew that I would become a master if I could win this game. I would get more than 40 rating points.
'But I never beat Chris before. He is a very strong master. I talked to my dad, and my dad told me not to think too much about ratings. He told me to listen to my heart.'
This month, the USCF announced that Carissa was a record-breaker along with a chess master.
While she loves chess, Carissa has plans to also become a professional golfer and a policewoman.
Her success in tournaments are due to the fact that she keeps her focus two to ten moves ahead of her opponent, as well as her ability to improvise - she can quickly adapt, finding a way to win (above Carissa during a tournament among many other young players)
Last month, Carissa finished with a national rating of 2,203, which placed her with the best 1.5 per cent of all players in the USCF (above Carissa pictured with her father, Percy Yip)
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