Grandmaster (2019).
FM (2009); IM (2013).
Bobby Cheng gained his FM title when he became the 2009 U12 World Youth Champion. He became an IM when he won his 3rd IM norm at the 2013 Sydney International Open.
Championships
After winning the 2009 U12 World Championship, he won the Australian U18 championship in 2010 and 2011, and then came 5th in the 2011 Oceania Zonal, with 6/9. He came 5th in the 2010 Victorian Championship, won the 2011 edition of that event, came third in 2012 and won the 2013 Victorian Championship with 10/11. In January 2014, he placed a slightly disappointing =5th at the Australian Championship with 7/10.
Classical Tournaments
In June 2010, he won the Victorian Open on tiebreak from Erik Teichmann and a half point ahead of GM David Smerdon. In October he came 4th in the Melbourne Cup Weekender with 6.5/9 and in December 2010 he came in second behind Stephen J Solomon at the Australasian Masters held in Melbourne and =5th at the Canterbury Summer Swiss held in Melbourne. In June 2011, he came in =3rd at the Victoria Open with 5.5/7 and in July 2011, he won the category 2 George Trundle Masters in Auckland, New Zealand with 6.5/9 thereby gaining an IM norm. In October 2011, Cheng took 2nd at the Melbourne Cup Weekender with 7/8, his draw with the winner, GM-elect George Xie Wendi , marring the latter's otherwise perfect result. In December 2011, he came clear 2nd in the 2011 Australasian Masters with 6.5/9 (+6 -2 =1) behind IM James Morris and followed up by starting 2012 with 6/9 in the Queenstown Chess Classic (2012) and 5.5/11 in the Australian Championship.
Since then, he came =3rd at the Ballarat Begonia Open, scored 5/9 at the 2012 Doeberl Premier, placed =4th at the 6th Sydney International Open, =1st at the 2012 Victorian Open and 3rd at the 2012 Victorian Championship. He represented Australia at the World Youth U16 Olympiad, playing board 1 and helping the Australia "A" team to 8th place. He put in strong performances in the Victorian Teams competition (4.5/5) and won the Box Hill Open in October with 6/7. Cheng finished 2012 with a strong =1st placement at the Australian Masters, scoring 6/9 and started 2013 with a stunning outright victory in the Australian Open 2013, with 9.5/11 (including a first round bye), a result that earned him an IM norm, nearly 50 rating points and a position in the top 10 in Australia. In 2013 Cheng earned his 3rd IM norm - and the IM title - at the Sydney International Open, scoring 5.5/9. Since then he won the Victorian Championship with 2 rounds to spare, scoring 10/11.
He was 2nd at the Australian Blitz Championship 2015 with 8/10.
Team events
Cheng played board 1 for Australia at the U16 Olympiads of 2012 and 2013, the team placing 8th and 9th respectively.
Rating
Cheng's highest rating to date was 2584 in March 2024.
Wikipedia article: Bobby Cheng
Kibitzing
25.Rhd1 f5 26.Rd2 Rd5 27.Qb4 c5 28.Qb5 Qxb5 29.cxb5 cxd4 30.a4 Kc7 31.Rh1 Rc5 32.Rh7+ Kb6 33.Rg7 Rc3 34.a5+ Kxa5 35.Rxb7 d3+ 36.Ke3 Rc1 37.Ra2+ Kb4 38.Kd2 Rg1 39.Rb2+ Ka3 0-1
