Christopher Yoo (chess player)

Last updated

Christopher Woojin Yoo
CountryUnited States
Born (2006-12-19) December 19, 2006 (age 18) [1]
Fremont, California
Title Grandmaster (2022)
FIDE   rating 2588 (January 2025)
Peak rating 2616 (August 2024)

Christopher Woojin Yoo (born December 19, 2006) is an American chess grandmaster. He became the youngest International Master in American history in February 2019, [2] until being surpassed by Abhimanyu Mishra later in 2019. [3]

Chess career

In March/April 2018, Yoo earned clear first place in the Charlotte Chess Center's Spring 2018 IM Norm Invitational held in Charlotte, North Carolina with a score of 6.0/9. [4] Yoo also won the 2020 US Cadet (under-16) Championship. [5]

In May 2021, Yoo tied for first place with GM Peter Prohaszka in the Memorial Day 2021 CCCSA GM Norm Invitational tournament with a performance rating of 2600, earning his first GM norm. [6]

In September 2021, Yoo won the Labor Day 2021 CCCSA GM Norm Invitational tournament with a performance rating of 2620, earning his second GM norm. [7]

In November 2021, Yoo tied for 3rd place at the U.S. Masters Chess Championship with a performance rating of 2604, earning his third GM norm. [8]

On December 12, 2021, Yoo achieved a live FIDE rating of 2500.2 after round 5 of the Marshall Chess Club Championship, fulfilling the last requirement for the Grandmaster title.

In December 2021, Yoo tied for 1st place at the 2021 Charlotte Open alongside Grandmasters Titas Stremavičius, Cemil Can Ali Marandi, Tanguy Ringoir, Robby Kevlishvili, and Akshat Chandra with a performance rating of 2603, earning a fourth GM norm. [9]

In July 2022, Yoo won the US Junior Chess Championship with 7/9, a point ahead of the field. [10]

In October 2022, Yoo defeated GM Wesley So with the black pieces in the second round of the US Chess Championship in an over 200 point upset.

In November 2022, Yoo tied for 1st place at the 2022 U.S. Masters Chess Championship with a performance rating of 2653, and claimed the 2022 US Masters title after winning a blitz playoff against GM Alejandro Ramirez by a score of 2-0. [11]

In October 2024, Yoo was disqualified from the 2024 United States Chess Championship due to code of conduct violations. After losing to Fabiano Caruana in round five, he punched a videographer from behind while leaving. [12] Prior to being disqualified, he had a score of 1.5/5. His tournament results were annulled. He was banned from the hosting venue, the St. Louis Chess Club, and was charged with 4th degree assault. [13] [14] He was also suspended by the USCF for one year. [15] Yoo later publicly apologized for the incident and indicated that the incident occurred because he lost his temper following the loss. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Zierk</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1993)

Steven Zierk is an American chess Grandmaster. He is best known for being the 2010 World Under 18 Chess Champion. He finished with 9.5/11, one point ahead of second-place finisher Samvel Ter-Sahakyan. In 2015, Steven graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a brother at the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dávid Bérczes</span> Hungarian chess player

Dávid Bérczes is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 2005 and the Grandmaster title in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen H. Grigoryan</span> Armenian chess grandmaster (born 1995)

Karen H. Grigoryan is an Armenian chess Grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niclas Huschenbeth</span> German chess grandmaster (born 1992)

Niclas Huschenbeth is a German chess grandmaster and a two-time German Chess Champion. He played in the Chess Olympiads of 2008 and 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamil Dragun</span> Polish chess grandmaster (born 1995)

Kamil Dragun is a Polish chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksander Miśta</span> Polish chess grandmaster (born 1983)

Aleksander Miśta is a Polish chess Grandmaster (2004) and FIDE Trainer (2012).

John Michael Burke is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). A chess prodigy, Burke reached an Elo rating of 2603 in September 2015. At the time, this made him the youngest-ever player to reach a rating of 2600 or above, a record since broken by Turkish GM Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akshat Chandra</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1999)

Akshat Chandra is an American chess player. He started playing Chess during a visit to India in 2009 when he was nine years old. In 2015, he won the US National K-12 Championship and was also the US Junior Champion, the first time both titles were held by the same person in a single year. He earned the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R Praggnanandhaa</span> Indian chess grandmaster (born 2005)

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, also known professionally as Pragg, is an Indian chess grandmaster. As of 2 September 2024, Praggnanandhaa is ranked 12th in the world by the International Chess Federation. Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali are the first brother and sister to earn GM titles. They are also the first brother and sister to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emilio Córdova</span> Peruvian chess grandmaster (born 1991)

Emilio Córdova is a Peruvian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster, which he was awarded in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Héðinn Steingrímsson</span> Icelandic chess player (born 1975)

Héðinn Steingrímsson is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He is a three-time Icelandic Chess Champion and was World U12 Chess Champion in 1987. He is the No. 5 ranked Icelandic player as of September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Tang</span> American chess grandmaster (born 1999)

Andrew Tang is an American chess grandmaster. He is also a popular streamer, known online for his speed chess skills especially in bullet, hyperbullet, and ultrabullet time controls as well as for playing speed chess blindfolded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bartholomew (chess player)</span> American chess player

John David Bartholomew is an American chess player, International Master, YouTuber, and entrepreneur. He is from Eagan, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Péter Prohászka</span> Hungarian chess grandmaster (born 1992)

Péter Prohászka is a Hungarian chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abhimanyu Mishra</span> American chess grandmaster (born 2009)

Abhimanyu Mishra is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he holds the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years, 4 months, and 25 days.

Nicolas de T. Checa is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He is from Dobbs Ferry, New York. A chess prodigy, he began playing competitive chess at age 7. He is the recipient of the 2020 and 2021 Samford Fellowships, an award granted to the top American chess players under 25 years old. He is the 2021 and 2022 Connecticut State Champion and an undergraduate student at Yale University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Praveen Balakrishnan</span> American chess grandmaster (born 2002)

Praveen Balakrishnan is an American chess grandmaster from Centreville, Virginia. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM) by FIDE in 2021, and he is a recipient of the 2021 Samford Fellowship. As of January 2022, he is ranked the 35th best player in the United States.

David Brodsky is an American chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United States Chess Championship</span> Chess tournament

The 2024 edition of the United States Chess Championship took place at the Saint Louis Chess Club in St. Louis, Missouri from 10 October to 24 October 2024. As with every United States Chess Championship tournament since 2014, it will be a round-robin tournament. Twelve players were invited to compete. Besides the reigning US champion, these included the winners of the US Open Chess Championship, the US Junior Championship, and the US Senior Open Championship. The remaining players were chosen by highest invitational rating, or were selected by the United States Chess Federation (USCF) as wildcards.

The U.S. Masters Championship is an official national chess championship sanctioned by US Chess that has been held 27 times since 1982. The event is a Swiss tournament usually restricted to players who have established peak ratings over 2200, plus high rated junior players, at the discretion of the organizer. As a primarily masters-only event, the U.S. Masters is one of the strongest Swiss tournaments in the U.S., offering FIDE title norms and large cash prizes to participants. Throughout its history, the event has always placed a premium on inviting foreign titled players to compete against American masters. The U.S. Masters has been dubbed "The Annual Homecoming of the American Master," and has previously been a qualifying tournament to the U.S. Championship.

References

  1. ↑ Klein, Mike (January 9, 2019). "Bay Area International Makes Chess History". Chess.com.
  2. ↑ Pereira, Antonio (February 19, 2019). "Did Yoo know?". Chess News.
  3. ↑ Doggers, Peter (November 16, 2019). "Abhimanyu Mishra Youngest IM In History". Chess.com.
  4. ↑ "CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational - Memorial Day 2021 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational Chess Tournament". chessstream.com.
  5. ↑ Hartmann, John (September 28, 2020). "IM Christopher Yoo Wins 2020 Cadet". US Chess.org.
  6. ↑ "CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational - Holiday 2021 GM/IM Norm Invitational Chess Tournament".
  7. ↑ "CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational - Labor Day 2021 GM/IM Norm Invitational Chess Tournament".
  8. ↑ "2021 US Masters".
  9. ↑ "2021 Charlotte Open".
  10. ↑ Levin, Anthony (July 19, 2022). "Yoo, Yu, Shabalov Win U.S. National Championships". Chess.com. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  11. ↑ "2023 US Masters ~ Charlotte Chess Center".
  12. ↑ Fischer, Johannes (October 17, 2024). "US Championships: Yoo expelled after violating the code of conduct".
  13. ↑ Schneider, Joey (October 17, 2024). "Competitor banned from Saint Louis Chess Club, expelled from US Chess Championship".
  14. ↑ Stegen, Anne (October 17, 2024). "Chess Grandmaster expelled from US Championship following violent outburst after loss". ksdk.com. KSDK. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  15. ↑ "'Tough But Fair:' Christopher Yoo Handed One-Year Ban Following Videographer Assault". chess.com. chess.com. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Christopher Yoo Issues Apology After Strike: 'Very Sad For What I Did'". chess.com. chess.com. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.