Carissa Yip ’26 captured her third U.S. National Women’s Chess Championship title in St. Louis, Missouri, last month — which she said comes full circle from her childhood days, when she awaited her father’s return from work with an open chess board on the living room floor.
Still, for Yip — the youngest female chess player to beat a grandmaster at age 10 — “nothing quite compares to the first time winning the championship.”
On the U.S. Championship stage, Yip said she felt an expectation to defend her title. Although psychological pressure is ever present in chess, she said she never feels it too much.
“Mostly I just focus on not wanting to disappoint myself,” Yip said. “If I play good chess and someone else wins then that is also deserved.”
Yip won her first eight games of the tournament and became the closest anyone has ever been to winning the esteemed Bobby Fischer Prize, which is given to a player who wins all 11 of their games. The award is statistically extremely improbable, regardless of expertise.
Despite the statistical and psychological challenges of the game, Yip said she remains confident in her ability to succeed.
“A lot of people look at chess statistically but for me it’s not so much that way. In every game it made sense that I would win. I was the higher-rated player, and the psychological component of chess is one of my biggest strengths,” Yip said. She believes psychology — and the ability to thrive under pressure — matters a lot in chess, especially when the match is broadcast on the national stage.
Yip said that while many of her friends find it is difficult to play for a win, she goes into every match with the intention of winning. She takes big risks that sometimes don’t pan out right as balancing her risk-taking decisions is challenging, she said.
Awonder Liang, chess Grandmaster and 2024 World Open champion said in an interview with The Daily that Yip “has a very creative and unorthodox style and it is difficult to predict her moves.”
Yip’s confidence stems from her previous victory over Ju Wenjun, Chinese chess grandmaster and the reigning Women’s World Champion.
“I was 16 and the whole chess world was watching,” Yip said. “My win proved to me that I could one day be competing on the world stage if I was able to beat the current world champion.”
Beyond the beauty of the sport, Yip said she thinks women experience a harsher environment in chess, a problem she first noticed at age 10 when she attended a chess tournament of over 100 people and was one of only two females.
“Girls who are very talented who play boys their age end up quitting for a variety of reasons,” Yip said. “It’s hard to find a welcoming community for them in the chess world.”
Yip attributed her development as a player to programs developed in recent decades to help increase girls’ and womens’ access to the sport, including the U.S. Chess Women’s Program. Yip said “there are still girls from that space playing in the U.S. championships with me every year, playing at the highest level.”
Yip encourages beginners to join the Stanford Chess Club, where she is a co-president.
“The main goal for Stanford Chess Club is simply to provide a fun environment for the community to enjoy chess,” said Bryce Tiglon M.S. ’25, a chess grandmaster and co-president of the club.