EP 457- IM Carissa Yip: Her Memories of Danya, Pursuing Chess Professionally and Reflecting on her 4th US Women’s Championship

Perpetual Chess Podcast

Perpetual Chess LLC

Sports, Hobbies, Leisure

4.8 • 706 Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fresh off her third consecutive (and fourth overall) U.S. Women’s Championship title, I was honored to catch up with 22-year-old IM Carissa Yip. Carissa has taken a gap year from Stanford University and is immersed in a demanding schedule of training and competition. She’s had some excellent results this year and is now ranked #21 among women in the world. Despite her success, Carissa has also experienced the emotional ups and downs that every serious chess player can relate to. In our conversation, she discusses: Her personal recollections of GM Daniel Naroditsky, including how he once went out of his way to help her prepare during a major tournament. The helpful opening advice recently shared with her by her friend and coach, GM Awonder Liang. How she overcame sluggish starts to win both the 2025 U.S. Women’s Championship and the Cairns Cup. Carissa shared a mix of funny stories and thoughtful reflections on her training regimen, the gender gap in chess, and her advice for improvement. She even recommended a novel to read and touched on her passion for writing. I really enjoyed catching up with Carissa and am excited to see her bright future continue to unfold. 0:00- Thanks to our sponsor, Chessable.com! If you sign up for Chessable Pro in order to unlock discounts and additional features, be sure to use the following link: https://www.chessable.com/pro/?utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=benjohnson&utm_campaign=pro And you can check out their new offerings here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/all/new/ 0:02- Carissa joins the pod. She begins by sharing her recollections of GM Daniel Naroditsky Mentioned: Zatonskih-Yip 2020 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2011266 0:05- Carissa had slow starts at both Cairns Cup and this US Champs- Why? 0:07- Carissa’s training regimen Mentioned: Killer Chess Training 0:09- Carissa’s Opening Approach Mentioned: GM Awonder Liang Check out Carissa’s US Championship Games here: https://lichess.org/study/etqoyX0E/QRi8cCdw 17:00- How to approach a new opening 19:00- Carissa’s approach to training games 22:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Would Carissa prefer a corporate career or to pursue chess professionally?” 24:30- Carissa retells the story of a funny bet between GM Awonder Liang and GM Sam Shankland Mentioned: February 2025 Chess Life Magazine https://new.uschess.org/magazine/feb-25-chess-life 28:00- Patreon mailbag question: “How can I overcome a slow start, as Carissa has done repeatedly?” 36:00- Carissa’s fiction recommendation: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 38:00- Carissa’ passion for writing 40:00- How does Carissa describe the e-sports experience of the recent USA vs. India match? l 48:00- Patreon mailbag question: “Why does Carissa think no female player subsequent to Judit has reached her level of dominance?” 54:00- Patreon mailbag question: “If Carissa could ask men in chess to do one thing differently, what would it be?” 57:00- Carissa discusses her friendship with rising American star, IM Alice Lee 59:00- Carissa’s upcoming tournaments 1:01- Carissa’ chess improvement advice! Thanks to Carissa for joining me again! Be sure to follow her on X and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carissayip/ https://x.com/carissayipchess?lang=en Image in thumbnail by Lennart Ootes for the St. Louis Chess Club https://www.flickr.com/photos/stlchessclub/54876804247/in/album-72177720329882462 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.
0:08.4	Hello everyone and welcome back to Perpetual Chess.
0:10.8	We have a returned guest that I am really excited to catch up with.
0:13.7	She's been making big headlines left and right lately.
0:16.6	But first, as always, did want to thank our sponsors, Chessable.com.
0:20.2	I wanted to give a shout out to Friend of the Pod. Dr. John Kabadai has a new workbook out, the art of chess, a practical workbook. John's stuff is always great, so be sure to check that out. And if you sign up for Chessable Pro, you can use the link in the description. Also wanted to thank St. Louis Chess Club for helping to set this interview up. Our guest was just at St. Louis Chess Club, winning the U.S. Women's Championship. As a youth, she broke countless records. She's now a 22-year-old young woman who continues to do so. She's now the four-time U.S. Women's Champion, including three times in a row. And this year's U.S. Women's Championship after a sluggish start, she scored six
0:55.0	and a half out of her last seven in the closing rounds. She was also the winner of this year's
0:59.5	Karen's Cup after another strong finish in that tournament. And she's up to number 21 in the
1:04.5	women's top 100 on the live ratings, also the highest rated U.S. player. So I am honored to
1:09.9	welcome back to the program. I am Carissa. Yep. Welcome, Carissa. Thank you so much, Ben. Thank you for all the kind of words and the introduction. Well, thank you for coming on the show. I know a lot of our Patreon's hubs for perpetual chess. We're super excited when I announced it. And we've got to get to all of your exploits, of which there are many. But, Carissa, of course, the big news of the month here as we record on October 30th was the passing of Grandmaster Daniel Naraditsky, really sad story. The chess world has been in shock. I know you guys both went to Stanford. You're taking a gap year.
1:46.6	Obviously, you're a bit younger than him.
1:48.0	Had you ever met, Anya?
1:50.2	Yeah, actually.
1:58.9	I know, it was very heartbreaking to hear back in, during COVID.
2:01.1	You know, he was a he's a streamer.
2:03.6	I had streamed like a little bit.
2:04.5	So you give me advice.
2:05.1	We were friendly.
2:06.1	We're friends.
2:08.6	He's always very kind to me.
2:10.6	I didn't get to talk to him too much.
2:22.1	Maybe my one, Donya story, is that, yeah, so we're friends and we would kind of like talk online occasionally about chess, college, studied history, I had Sabrina history at the time, talk a little bit of
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