Christopher Woojin Yoo Wins Third Falconer Award

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Left-to-right: IA, NTD Judit Szataray, GM Christopher Woojin Yoo, FM Paul Whitehead, and FA, SrTD Scott Mason (courtesy Alyssa Stone/Mechanics' Institute)

Grandmaster Christopher Woojin Yoo has won the prestigious 2024 Falconer Award given annually by the Mechanics' Institute to the highest rated player under the age of 18 in Northern California. The Falconer Award is named in honor of the late Mechanics’ Institute Trustee Neil Falconer, himself a strong tournament player, holding a 1900+ rating up to age 85. This is the 17-year-old Yoo's third (and second consecutive) time winning this award.

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Yoo and IM Elliott Winslow in an informal blitz game before the ceremony (courtesy Alyssa Stone/Mechanics' Institute)

In 2019, Yoo became the youngest American to earn the IM title (to be surpassed by GM Abhimanyu Mishra later), and has since won a number of events. Some of Yoo's work can be seen as a contributor to Chess Life Online, where has contributed annotations from the dramatic seventh game of the 2023 FIDE World Chess Championship.

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Yoo giving a lecture as part of the awards ceremony. This position is not trivial: note Black's queen on h1! (courtesy Alyssa Stone/Mechanics' Institute)

The reception for this event was held Tuesday, February 27, at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Room. The full list of award winners is below. 

• 2000-2002 Vinay Bhat
• 2003 Michael Pearson
• 2004 Nicholas Yap
• 2005-2006 Matthew Ho
• 2007 Nicholas Yap
• 2008-2009 Sam Shankland
• 2010 Steven Zierk
• 2011-2013 Daniel Naroditsky
• 2014-2015 Yian Liou
• 2016-2018 Cameron Wheeler
• 2019 Andrew Hong
• 2020 Christopher Woojin Yoo
• 2021 no award was given out due to closures
• 2022 Andrew Hong
• 2023-2024 Christopher Woojin Yoo