An Amazing Year For Carissa Yip

2. Kasparov Chess Foundation Camp

In June, I joined the Kasparov Chess Foundation's young stars team USA. I attended the training sessions led by the world's chess legend, GM Garry Kasparov.

I was the youngest and lowest-rated student among the best juniors in the country. The camp included GM Jeffery Xiong, GM Sam Sevian, GM Kayden Troff, and IM John Burke. 

I was the only one without any title and the only girl in the group.

The entire camp was three days. We were supposed to annotate and analyze six of our games to share with the class. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I met some of the brightest juniors in the country and was awed by their knowledge, skills and dedication. 

At the last day of the camp, we were given a set of puzzles to test our chess understanding. I had never seen such difficult puzzles. Each puzzle took me around half an hour to solve. 

Kasparov provided us with individual hints and guidance on each puzzle if needed. After the test, Kasparov met with each student and parents individually.

 

I was quite nervous while waiting for my turn. When it finally came, Mr. Kasparov told me that I had passed the exam! He gave me his assessment on my strength and areas that need improvement. I was given guidance on what to work on before the next training session.

 

3. Boylston Chess Club Championship

Once school started, I didn't have much time to study chess. School's workload was heavy, perhaps three or four times heavier than it was last year. I tried to play some tournaments in the hope of improving my rating. One of the tournaments I played in was the Boylston Chess Club closed championship, a 11-round, round-robin tournament. 

Boylston Chess Club has over 100 years of history, and is the third-oldest chess club in the country. 

I was the top seed in the field. I won the championship and became the youngest and first female BCC champion in the history of BCC.

 

4. Kasparov Chess Foundation Camp #2

Then in December, the second Kasparov training camp arrived. This time GM Ruifeng Li and IM Awonder Liang were there also. Awonder is super-talented chess player with a rating of over 2600, and he is only several months older than me!

I passed the assessment once again. Kasparov suggested that I focus more on FIDE-rated tournaments to improve my FIDE rating. I will come back in six months for another evaluation. 

 

5. Appreciation

As year 2016 draws to a close, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have helped me. I thank my parents for always being there for me, and IM Denys Shmelov, Michael Khodarkovsky and GM Larry Christiansen for the time and effort they have put into coaching me and helping me grow.

I would like to thank the Kasparov Chess Foundation and Saint Louis Chess Club for giving me the opportunities to train and play chess at the highest level, and ChessKid for its support and sponsorship.

I would also like to thank Massachusetts Chess Association for providing financial support for me to play in the North American Junior U20 tournament, where I got second place, and was awarded WFM title.

Thanks to Boylston Chess Club for organizing FIDE-rated tournaments, overcoming the difficulty of lack of FIDE tournament directors.

Last but not least, I thank all my chess fans. They have always been there for me, during my ups and downs, encouraging me and cheering me on.

 

Thank you for believing in me, I could not have done it without you!