Moulthun Ly (born 20 November 1991) is an Australian

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 Grandmaster title 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 2016 to become Australia's sixth grandmaster (GM). He is the first person born in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

to become an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

or a Grandmaster.

Chess career

Ly earned his first two International Master (IM) norms in 2006 at the World Open in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and the Essent Open in

Hoogeveen Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Population centres Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...

. He attained his final IM norm at the

Doeberl Cup The Doeberl Cup is an annual chess tournament held in Canberra, Australia. It has been held every year since 1963 (apart from 2020) and is the longest running weekend chess event in Australia. Since its inception the event has grown both larger and ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

in 2010. He was awarded the title of International Master the following year. Ly picked up his first

GM norm A norm in chess is a high level of performance in a chess tournament. The level of performance is typically measured in tournament performance rating above a certain threshold (for instance, 2600 for GM norm), and there is a requirement on the leve ...

by winning the Sydney International Chess Open in 2014 with a score of 7.0/9. He achieved his last two GM norms in 2016 at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, where he scored 6.0/10; and the Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, where he scored 5.5/9. In 2020, he won the 54th Begonia Open on tie-breaks from Mark Chapman,

Zong-Yuan Zhao Zhao Zong-Yuan (; born 26 June 1986) is an Australian chess Grandmaster. , he was the third-ranked active chess player in Australia. Early life Zhao was born in Beijing. He grew up in Coffs Harbour, Australia, a pharmacy graduate from the ...

and Jesse Jager.

Personal life

Ly grew up in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He is the founder and editor of 50 Moves Magazine, a chess magazine which he operates with contributions from leading Australian players such as fellow Australian grandmasters Ian Rogers and Max Illingworth. Ly is currently the Head of Online Learning at Australian Junior Chess on Cloud, and publishes videos weekly on Molton, his personal YouTube channel. He remains active on the Australian chess scene.

References

External links

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Moulthun Ly
chess games at 365Chess.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ly, Moulthun 1991 births Living people Australian chess players Cambodian emigrants to Australia Chess Grandmasters Australian people of Cambodian descent