Christopher Yoo Wins Sardinia Chess Festival Amid Ongoing Scrutiny Over Domestic Ban
Eighteen-year-old GM Christopher Yoo scored an impressive performance to win Italy's Sardinia World Chess Festival with 7.5/9 last week, but his participation in Italy has led to scrutiny from the chess community due to his domestic ban from competitive chess.
The U.S. teenage grandmaster went through the 106-player Masters group unbeaten with a 2753 rating performance, the best result of his career. He finished half a point ahead of GM Ihor Samunenkov from Ukraine and Italy's own GM Lorenco Lodici.
Yoo led the tournament from the beginning, starting with 5/5 after beating second seed GM Leon Luke Mendonca in the fifth round. He eventually won another game against GM Francesco Sonis, then ended the tournament with draws against top seed GM Daniel Dardha and GM Narayanan S.L. to take clear first place.
| Rank | Title | Name | FED | Rating | Points | Rating +/- |
| 1 | GM | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2588 | 7.5 | 18.9 | |
| 2 | GM | Ihor Samunenkov | 2572 | 7 | 0.9 | |
| 3 | GM | Lorenzo Lodici | 2570 | 7 | -2.6 | |
| 4 | GM | Daniel Dardha | 2650 | 6.5 | -5.2 | |
| 5 | IM | Loic Travadon | 2451 | 6.5 | 20.6 | |
| 6 | GM | Elham Amar | 2546 | 6.5 | 1.1 | |
| 7 | GM | S, L Narayanan | 2601 | 6.5 | -0.4 | |
| 8 | GM | Yahli Sokolovsky | 2546 | 6.5 | 2.5 | |
| 9 | IM | Marius Fromm | 2436 | 6.5 | 8.1 | |
| 10 | IM | Yuval Yaniv | 2407 | 6.5 | 12.8 | |
| 11 | GM | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2643 | 6 | -10.7 | |
| 12 | FM | Francesco Bettalli | 2355 | 6 | 61.2 | |
| 13 | IM | Miguoel Admiraal | 2454 | 6 | 5.4 | |
| 14 | GM | Luca Jr Moroni | 2545 | 6 | -4.6 | |
| 15 | GM | Nurlan Ibrayev | 2367 | 6 | 11.5 |
Full standings at Chess-Results.com.
Yoo's performance earned him 19 rating points and pushed his classical rating to 2607. He crossed the 2600 barrier for the second time and is world's 15th highest-ranked junior.
His best game was his win against Mendonca in round five:
After the tournament, he gave an interview to ChessBase, together with his father.
Yoo's victory in Sardinia was his first FIDE-rated event since he assaulted a videographer following his loss against GM Fabiano Caruana during the 2024 US Chess Championship in October. He issued a statement the next day, apologizing for his behavior and calling it unacceptable.
Because Yoo was a minor, US Chess could not publicly disclose their investigation and subsequent sanction, but his father confirmed that his son had been suspended from national tournaments until November 14, 2025.
His return to competitive chess, however, has sparked a wave of debate on social media. Because national sanctions do not automatically extend to FIDE-rated events, Yoo remains eligible to compete abroad, unless the FIDE Ethics & Disciplinary Commission (EDC) rules otherwise.
Chris Bird, the International Arbiter present during the St. Louis incident, confirmed to Chess.com that he filed a complaint with FIDE’s EDC on December 10, 2024. Bird said he was contacted by US Chess on December 21, who asked if they requested a global extension of the ban under Article 4.15 of FIDE’s Ethics Code ", would he then withdraw his complaint? He agreed as that article allows "affected members of the FIDE family" to request sanctions to have worldwide effect.
“It’s been a very frustrating process,” the arbiter said. "It took US Chess over three months to make the request they agreed to on December 21, and the EDC have sat on it since then until their Chamber meets and decides whether or not to implement the sanction."
Bird provided Chess.com with a timeline that shows he only received a confirmation from the EDC that they had received the case from US Chess on April 30. No interim measures were requested in the meantime, which means Yoo is free to play abroad.
Things I know for certain: US Chess had not made the request as of Feb 20, which is over 3 months past their sanction date & FIDE EDC Rule 78 also includes a provision for handling things quicker, but this case was not considered "straight-forward or urgent" in their opinion.
— Chris Bird (@ChrisBirdIA) April 30, 2025
Bird stressed that he bears no ill-will against Yoo personally. "My issue is that the system appears to be clearly broken, that someone who did something significantly wrong in terms of a safe play issue gets a sanction but that sanction doesn't apply to everywhere."
My issue is that the system appears to be clearly broken...
—Chris Bird, International Arbiter
He added: "The fact that US Chess and FIDE Ethics appear to have been very slow to progress this aspect is obviously very frustrating and does not help the system."
Chess.com has reached out to both EDC and US Chess for a comment to this story.
Christopher's father, Young-Kyu Yoo, addressed the criticism of his son's return in a statement to Chess.com (see full text in the bottom of this story).
He noted that the decision to play was taken through consultation with doctors and mental health professionals. "He was actually encouraged by his doctors to resume tournament play. Please also bear in mind he had never done anything like this before, in or outside of chess, and he hasn't done anything like this since."
They said Yoo has been undergoing weekly therapy and group counseling since the October incident, and resumed play only after his doctors determined he was no longer a safety risk. "Christopher remains deeply sorry and regretful for what he did at the U.S. Championship in October. He carries this with him always." his parents wrote. “He would never have resumed play if his doctors felt he was of danger to anyone.”
Christopher remains deeply sorry and regretful for what he did. He carries this with him always.
—Young-Kyu Yoo, father of Christopher Yoo
He also noted that while Christopher is not banned from FIDE or non-US Chess events, he withdrew from events such as the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Championship and the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Young Stars program. His college plans have been disrupted, and he has lost access to funding opportunities like the Samford Fellowship and Falconer Prize.
He says they first learned of the formal FIDE investigation on March 26, but they were only contacted by the EDC on May 2. According to his parents, the decision to compete in Grenke Freestyle Open in Germany and the Sardinia Chess Festival was made prior to learning of the FIDE investigation and with full support from medical professionals.
Young-Kyu Yoo also expressed his frustration with comments on social media, saying: "We understood there would be some negative reactions to his return, but what we're most most disappointed in is people who should know better, professionals who frankly shouldn't be making public statements at all, posting on Christopher being continued safe play threat, as well as baselessly speculating on other aspects of his return."
He further added: "I think it's sad that so much of this is playing out through social media and the press and not through the proper channels at US Chess and FIDE as it should be. Not only because it involved my son, who was a minor at the time, but because of all the false accusations, innuendo, and hostility aimed at everyone involved, including at the victim herself by people who were ostensibly defending my son."
"That's why we made sure in one of our early public statements to say that the attack was unprovoked, to try to stop the victim blaming. We learned recently there are FIDE regulations that are supposed to make sure matters like this are handled discreetly and sensitively, but I think much of that went out the window in a rush for public approbation."
Full statement by Christopher Yoo's father
We know there are some who are understandably critical of Christopher playing in-person rated international chess right now given he is still in the midst of a 12-month ban in the US for striking a video videographer after a loss at the US Championship. But there have been some misconceptions surrounding the sanction and his return to competitive play so we wanted to try to clear them up.
1) Christopher remains deeply sorry and regretful for what he did at the US Championship in October. He carries this with him always.
2) The decision for Christopher to return to in-person tournament play was not one Christopher made on his own. It involved his parents (us) and his doctors. Christopher resumed play after undergoing extensive evaluation and treatment by multiple professionals, who agreed he was not an ongoing safe play risk and that, at this point, resuming tournament chess would be good for his mental wellbeing. He was actually encouraged by his doctors to resume tournament play. Please also bear in mind he had never done anything like this before, in or outside of chess, and he hasn't done anything like this since.
3) He was not banned from FIDE events or non-US Chess events. That was made clear to us from the outset when US Chess imposed their sanction. Moreover, he will continue to respect his ban from US Chess and forgo USCF-rated events and any events where he would have to participate as a representative of US Chess, like the World Cup, Grand Swiss, etc. He is not seeking any special exemptions or exceptions.
4) FIDE may or may not at some point impose their own sanction. We recently heard there is a FIDE investigation that has commenced and we will cooperate fully.
5) Some have expressed the opinion a ban from playing in one country is not sufficient. We want to say a US ban in and of itself is a very serious restriction for an American player like Christopher. Unlike many strong and/or promising young GMs who have financial support from their federations or sponsors, most young American GMs like Christopher do not, and travel is probably the single biggest expense for Christopher. We live on the West Coast, so trips to Europe and the Middle East are particularly long and costly. That meant that for the last few years, the great majority of his tournaments have been in the US.
6) But there is a much bigger consequence beyond the formal US Chess sanction. His plans for college are in disarray. He had been planning to attend college on a chess scholarship and had two scholarship offers in hand, but college won’t be happening in the near future. Because he has never been strong academically, this may be a significant obstacle in the way of Christopher getting an affordable college education. He also had in the past won merit-based grants like the Samford Fellowship and the Falconer Prize to help with his chess. Understandably he will not be receiving those grants this year.
7) He voluntarily withdrew from programs and FIDE events he had been planning to attend. For example, he was still eligible to play in the World Rapid and Blitz in NYC in December since it was not technically a US Chess event, but he withdrew his registration. He also withdrew from the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Young Stars program.
Finally we want to re-iterate that he would never have resumed play if his doctors felt he was of danger to anyone. He resumed play when he did with the encouragement of his doctors, who felt a return to competitive chess would be a positive step for his mental wellbeing.
Yes, we know chess is hard and often stressful. Chess is even, as Christopher said in jest on stage at the closing ceremony in Sardinia, “cold,” meaning, he told us, unforgiving of mistakes. And, yes, he made a horrible mistake in October that many may find difficult to forgive. But to Christopher, chess remains the dream, and to us, his parents, and to others, like his doctors, who genuinely care about Christopher, chess is his road back from where he was on a very dark day in St. Louis in October.
P.S. You might ask, why isn't Christopher saying all this stuff for himself? He's now 18 (as of December) after all, and technically an adult and not the "child" or "manchild" he was at the time of the incident. And it goes beyond his father being a little better with words. But that's another story we hope to share with you at a later date.
P.P.S. We want to thank everyone who has continued to show support for Christopher because they know him and have appreciated him for who he is and not for what he did, because what he did is not who he is.
