Alice Lee (chess player)

Alice Lee (born October 13, 2009) is an American chess player with the titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the youngest American female, and third youngest female in the world, to achieve the IM title. Her list of tournament victories includes being the 2024 Women's American Cup Champion, the 2023 US Girls' Junior Champion, and a three-time World Youth Champion.

Early career
Alice Lee began playing chess at age 6 in the school chess club where her older brother was already playing.

She became a US Chess Expert at age 8 and a US Chess National Master (NM) at age 10. At age 9, she won the under-18 section of the 2019 National Girls Championships.

U.S. Women's Championships
At age 12, Lee debuted at the 2022 U.S. Women's Championship and finished tied for 5th place in a field of 14 players.

At age 13, Lee took clear third place in the 2023 championship with 7.5 out of 11.

Women's American Cup
Lee has set several records at the Women's American Cup, becoming both the youngest participant and the youngest winner of the tournament. She claimed the championship in 2024 and finished as the runner-up twice.

At age 12, she secured second place at the 2022 Women's American Cup, achieving a string of surprising victories.

At age 13, she again finished second at the 2023 Women's American Cup. She tied two classical matches with GM Irina Krush before losing in the rapid playoffs.

At age 14, she won the 2024 Women's American Cup by defeating GM Irina Krush in the Grand Final. Her victory places her alongside Bobby Fischer and Irina Krush as one of the youngest players to win a major chess title in the United States.

U.S. Girls' Junior Championships
Lee started playing in the US Girls' Junior Championships since the age of 10.

At age 13, she won the 2023 US Girls' Junior Championship after finishing 7.5 out of 9, becoming the youngest winner of the tournament.

World Youth Championships
Lee is a three-time gold medalist at the World Youth Championships (under-10 girls section in 2019; under-12 girls section in 2020; under-12 girls section in 2021). She was also the winner of the online FIDE Youth Rapid World Cup (under-12 girls section in 2021).

Chess Olympiad and World Team Championships
At age 13, Lee played the top board for team USA at the 2023 World Women's Team Championship. She earned the individual gold medal on the top board by finishing 7.5 out of 11. The US Women's team had their best finish in this tournament, securing 4th place.

Other Notable Tournaments
At age 14, Lee became the youngest participant of the Cairns Cup, one of the world's strongest female super tournaments. She finished with a score of 4 out of 9.

FIDE titles/ratings
Lee is the youngest American female to achieve the IM title (at 13 years and 7 months old), breaking the previous record held by Carissa Yip (at 16 years and 1 month old). Worldwide, Lee is one of three female players to earn the IM title at age 13, joining GMs Judit Polgár and Kateryna Lagno.

At age 11, she earned the WIM title by winning the under-18 girls section of the 2021 North American Youth Championships.

At age 12, she earned her FM title, first International Master (IM) norm, and first Woman Grandmaster (WGM) norm at the 2022 Southwest Class Championships.

At age 13, she won a second IM norm and a second WGM norm at the 2023 1000GM St. Louis IM Norm Tournament.

At age 13, she crossed the 2400 live rating mark after the first two rounds during the 2023 1000GM NYC IM Norm Tournament, thereby fulfilling the rating requirement for the IM title.

At age 13, she won her final IM norm and final WGM norm at the 2023 Canadian Transnational Championship and hence qualified for both the IM and WGM titles.

In November 2023, as Lee's FIDE rating reached 2406, she became the world's #46 rated female player and the #2 rated female player in the USA and the Americas.

Notable games
At the 2022 Southwest Class Championships, Lee defeated IM Viktor Gazik (2543) to clinch her first IM and WGM norms.

At the 2023 Pro Chess League, she defeated GM Matthias Bluebaum (2661) (Berlin Bears) and GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2700) (Croatia Bulldogs) to help St. Louis Arch Bishops reach the playoffs; in the quarter finals, she drew GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) (Gotham Knights).

At the 2023 Canadian Transnational Championship, she defeated two GMs, including GM Arturs Neiksans (2605), and drew four other GMs, including GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista (2617). A performance rating of 2531 secured her final IM and WGM norms.

At the 2024 Women's American Cup, she defeated GM Irina Krush (2421) in the Grand Final to become one of the youngest players to win a major chess title in the United States.

At the 2024 Cairns Cup, she defeated former Women's World Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2501) in the fourth round.

At the 2024 World Open, she defeated GM Tuan Minh Le (2568) in the fourth round.

Other chess activities and awards
In July 2023, Lee was interviewed by Good Morning America after becoming the youngest American female IM.

Since the age of 10, she has co-hosted the Chesskid.com show "Alice's Pawn Palace" with FM Mike Klein.

As an ambassador for Chesskid.com, she took part in various Chesskid.com and Chess.com activities.

She was chosen for the Frank P. Samford, Jr. Chess Fellowship in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

She won the US Chess "Young Player of The Year" award in 2024, marking her as the first female player to achieve this distinction.

In May 2024, the Minnesota Senate passed a resolution to congratulate Alice Lee on her American Cup victory and extraordinary chess career.