Bobby Cheng (born 20 March 1997) is a

Chinese-Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Overseas Chinese, Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Au ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 2019. Cheng was world champion in the under 12 category in 2009, the only Australian in history to win a world title. Cheng won Australian Open championship in 2013 and Australian chess Championship in 2016.

Biography and career

Cheng was born in

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

. His early trainers in New Zealand were Bruce Wheeler and Ewen Green, followed by GM Darryl Johansen after Cheng arrived in Australia. He finished tied for third place in the Under 10 division of the

World Youth Chess Championship The World Youth Chess Championship is a FIDE-organized worldwide chess competition for boys and girls under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Twelve world champions are crowned every year. Since 2015, the event has been split into "World Cade ...

s in 2007, the year he and his family moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. In November 2009, Cheng transferred national federations from New Zealand to Australia and won the Under 12 title at the World Youth Championships in

Kemer Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera. Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mountain ...

, Turkey. Cheng won the Australian Junior Championship in January 2010, at age 12, becoming the youngest player ever to do so, and won the same title again in 2011. Also in 2011, Cheng became the youngest ever winner of the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

n Championship title, finishing ahead of Grandmaster

Darryl Johansen Darryl Keith Johansen (born 4 February 1959 in Melbourne) is an Australian chess grandmaster. He has won the Australian Chess Championship a record six times (in 1984, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2002, and 2012), and represented Australia at fourteen Che ...

. In 2012 Cheng tied for the Australian Masters title with Anton Smirnov. He played for the Australian team in the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad in 2012 and 2013. In January 2013 Cheng won the Australian Open Championship, the youngest player ever to do so. In January 2016, Cheng became the Australian champion in Melbourne. In 2018, he played on the Australian national team in the

43rd Chess Olympiad The 43rd Chess Olympiad ( ka, 43-ე საჭადრაკო ოლიმპიადა, ''43-e sach’adrak’o olimp’iada''; also known as the Batumi Chess Olympiad), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and c ...

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

, Georgia.43rd Olympiad Batumi 2018 Open. Team composition for federation AUS - Open
''chess-results.com''. In December 2019 Cheng won the Australian Young Masters tournament with a perfect 9/9 score, ahead of top seed Norwegian Grandmaster Frode Urkedal. In July 2021, Cheng was invited to the FIDE World Cup in Sochi. He was the first Australian in history to win a game in the World Cup after defeating GM Vahap Sanal from Turkey in the rapid tiebreaks. In round 2 he received a walk over against GM Levon Aronian after the former world number 2 had to forfeit his match due to displaying flu like symptoms. Cheng subsequently bowed out against the former Belarusian champion GM Vladislav Kovalev 1.5-0.5.

References

External links

*
Bobby Cheng
chess games at 365Chess.com *

team chess record at Olimpbase.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Bobby 1997 births Living people Chess grandmasters Australian chess players New Zealand chess players World Youth Chess Champions Chess Olympiad competitors Australian people of Chinese descent New Zealand people of Chinese descent New Zealand emigrants to Australia Sportspeople from Hamilton, New Zealand