Jennifer Yu

In 2019, Jennifer Yu won the U.S. Women's Chess Championship and therefore qualified to play in the Women's World Cup. She won nine games out of eleven and drew two, with Annie Wang and Tatev Abrahamyan in rounds 5 and 9 respectively. Before round 10, Yu led by 2 points ahead of the rest of the field. Because of this, nobody else in the field would be able to catch up to her for first, except for Anna Zatonskih. In the penultimate round, Yu beat her, securing the champion title with a round to spare. Yu also won the last game, finishing the tournament with a score of 10/11 points and a performance rating of 2678.

Born in Ithaca, New York, Yu started playing chess in first grade, attending an after-school chess class. After the school finished its chess sessions, Yu wanted to continue her interest and asked her parents to find a coach. She started playing in chess tournaments at the age of 7, in 2009. Yu's rating rose to 2100 by the end of 2013. In 2014, Yu competed at the World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa in the Girls U12 section and took the gold medal. She was the first female player to do so for the United States in 27 years. Yu won the Virginia State Closed Championship in 2015, becoming the youngest player and first female to do so. She also won the National Girls Tournament of Champions three times, tying in 2014 and 2015, and winning outright in 2016. Yu played on the US team at the Women's World Team Chess Championship in 2017 and at the Women's Chess Olympiad in 2018. In the latter event Yu won an individual bronze medal playing board five.

Jennifer Yu (born February 1, 2002) is an American chess player. She was awarded the title Woman Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018. Yu is the 2019 U.S. women's champion.