Alice Lee Breaks Yip's Record, (Unofficially) Becomes Youngest American Female IM

Editor's Note: This story first ran in the April 2023 issue of Chess Life Kids magazine. We are republishing it here now because, on June 11, 2023, WIM Alice Lee indeed broke IM Carissa Yip's record to become the youngest American female player in history to earn the IM title. Consider becoming a US Chess member for more content like this — access to digital editions of both Chess Life and Chess Life Kids is a member benefit, and you can receive print editions of both magazines for a small add-on fee.

Alice Lee at the 2022 U.S. Women's Championship (courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Thirteen-year-old WIM Alice Lee of Minnesota is out to smash an all-time American chess record.

Since learning the game from her dad at only six years old, Alice has already set USA records, becoming a National Master (NM) at 10 and a Woman International Master (WIM) at 12. Along the way, she’s also won the world championship gold medal in three different World Youth divisions! But most people at her school don’t know about her chess achievements. She’s humble about her success and likes being “under the radar.”

Biggest challenge so far

She’s readying herself for a big step up — the overall International Master (IM) title. It’s the second-highest ranking in chess, behind only the Grandmaster (GM) title. There are fewer than 4,000 IMs of any age in the entire world. Fewer than 130 are females. Alice could become America’s youngest female ever to become an IM, breaking a record set by one of Alice’s chess heroes, IM Carissa Yip of Boston. Yip set the record at 16 years old, when she was about three years older than Alice is now.

Lee competing against eight-time U.S. Women's champion GM Irina Krush in the 2022 U.S. Women's Championship. Lee defeated Krush for the first time in a classical game during the American Cup in April, 2023. (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

To become an IM, a player must have a very high rating and earn three separate “norms,” earning each norm by winning lots of games in special tournaments that include those who have already earned their IMs. Alice is on a tear. Recently, she made her second IM norm, winning five games in a row against a tough field in St. Louis and taking first place. Alice doesn’t set out to win every game and doesn’t pay attention to winning streaks. “Every game means something. I just play one game at a time and try to play my best chess, every game. It’s good to have respect for all your opponents.”

A “tag-a-long” who lost to everyone

Alice wasn’t always a champ. When she was in first grade, she started going to the school chess club as a “tag-a-long” with her brother, who was in 5th grade. “I lost to everyone,” she laughed, “hundreds of games.” But she kept playing and got better. “I didn’t have a real chess coach until I was rated around 1700, when I was seven years old.” She began working with GM Dmitry Gurevich. “He’s a really good coach. He helped me improve 500 points in a few years.”

Alice Lee and her longtime coach GM Dmitry Gurevich (courtesy ChessKid)

The long, forced time-out caused by COVID-19 made it tough for young chess players to keep in practice. When tournaments started again, “I dropped 20 rating points. It took a few months for me to keep improving.” She works on chess one to two hours every day and spends even more time preparing when an upcoming tournament is near. “Chess Tempo is a good online training site.” Alice also likes Chess.com’s Puzzle Rush. “It’s fun. My coach sends me positions from games, and I look at them because they’re interesting. But it’s my mom who watches the webcasts of top tournaments.”

How do you spend your downtime between chess tournaments? Alice Lee spends hers winning math competitions (courtesy of the subject)

Everyone in her family has earned a US Chess rating. But at first her mom and dad, both university professors, were surprised at Alice’s success. “It seemed like her older brother Linden was the chess player, and Alice was just tagging along,” her mom Vanessa said. “But by 10, she was competing with the top juniors.” Linden, a chess master and Alice’s biggest hero and booster, helped her analyze her games. Both Alice and Linden are math whizzes as well, winning competitions. He’s now busy going to college at Yale. Mom and Dad travel with Alice to her tournaments but often have to take turns staying with her because of their busy teaching schedule.

Alice Lee and her brother, Linden, enjoy ice cream between rounds of a tournament (courtesy of the subject)

“Chess is art,” her mom said. “It requires new ways of figuring out how to solve a problem. It’s fun for me to watch. Alice gets a lot of enjoyment from her games. Chess is a great tool to build character and find community.”

Maybe the crane should be trying to get Lee's photograph, too? (courtesy of the subject)

It took lots of help

The whole family is grateful to the chess community. “We benefitted from the support of many, many people,” Mom Vanessa said. “The chess community in Minnesota was fantastic.” Alice agrees. “The Chess Castle of Minnesota provided a really good community that motivated me.” Support from US Chess and the Saint Louis Chess Club was also crucial.

And this year, Alice was selected for a U.S. Chess Trust Samford Fellowship. “That support definitely helped me play in many more out-of-state tournaments that I wouldn’t have been able to go to. It’s also given me motivation to be recognized along with some of the other young Samford winners like Carissa Yip and [GM] Christopher Yoo.”

Alice Li celebrating her second IM norm (courtesy of the subject)

Now, besides seeking titles, Alice works to encourage other young girls to play chess. “One of the barriers is that there aren’t too many female players.” She co-hosts with FM Mike Klein a ChessKid.com webcast called Alice’s Pawn Palace. “It’s watched by kids all over the world. Hopefully, it engages more people to play the game and enjoy it.” And every week last fall, Alice taught about 30 young girls in a nonprofit program, “The Unruly Queens,” led by WIM Ellen Wang.

As for her chess goals — “I’m hoping I can reach the level of some of my chess heroes. I’d like to become an inspiration to young girls taking up chess, just like [WGM] Jennifer Shahade, [WGM] Jennifer Yu, Carissa Yip, and [IM] Annie Wang have been to me.”

Postscript: On June 11, 2023, Lee earned her third and final IM norm thanks to her performance at the Canadian Transnational 2023 tournament in Montreal. The tournament only broadcast the top boards, meaning that we do not have the scores for her wins over GMs Arturs Neiksans and Bator Sambuev. But we do have one of her four additional draws against a grandmaster, in which she plays a series of simple, logical moves to totally maintain equality on the black side of an opening that experienced players often use to grind down less experienced opposition.