Justin Tan | |
|---|---|
 Tan in 2015 | |
| Country | Australia |
| Born | 19 March 1997 (age 27) Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom |
| Title | Grandmaster (2018) |
| FIDE rating | 2507 (January 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2533 (March 2022) |
Justin Tan (born 19 March 1997) [1] [2] is an Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018, becoming the 8th Australian to achieve the title. [3] He was formerly British Blitz Champion and was British Under-21 Champion twice (2016 and 2018). [4] [5] [6]
Tan learned to play chess at the age of seven. [7] As a junior, he represented Australia at four World Youth Chess Championships (Vietnam 2008, Under-12), (Turkey 2009, U-16), (Brazil 2011, Under-14), (Greece 2015, Under-18) and twice at the World Youth Chess Olympiad in Turkey (2012) and China (2013). [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Tan moved to England in 2013 to study under a chess scholarship at Woodbridge School, Suffolk. He became an International Master in 2015 after gaining his final International Master norm at the Bunratty Classic, Ireland. [14] [15]
In 2015, Tan achieved his first Grandmaster norm at the Colin Crouch Memorial Congress at Harrow, London. [16] At the 2015 Under-18 World Youth Chess Championships in Greece, Tan tied for fourth place, after defeating GM Kirill Alekseenko. [17]
In 2016, Tan tied for third place with GM Gawain Jones and also became British Under-21 Champion at the 103rd British Chess Championship at Bournemouth, gaining his second GM norm in the process. [18] [19] In the same year, Tan was joint winner with GM Luke McShane at the DeMontford Bell Kings Place Rapidplay. [20]
In 2018, Tan won the Paracin Open in Serbia, securing his final GM norm and the Grandmaster title. [21] He became British Blitz Champion in 2019 after winning the UK Open Blitz Championship. [22]
In 2021, Tan won the O2C Doeberl Cup in Canberra, Australia, with a score of 7.5/9. [23] In 2022, he won the inaugural Chessemy Open in Reinstorf, Germany, in a field of over 160 players. [24]
Tan represented Australia on Board 4 at the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai scoring 5/8. [25]
Tan plays in the top division of the UK 4NCL for Wood Green and has previously played in the Dutch and the Icelandic leagues for BSG and Taflfélag Garðabæjar respectively. [26] [27] [28]
Since 2018, Tan has been a monthly author for Chess Publishing. [29]
Tan was born and grew up in Cardiff, South Wales, United Kingdom, until the age of seven, when his family moved to Melbourne, Australia. He is a dual Australian and British citizen. [30]
Until 2013, Tan was an elite national gymnast and a member of the Australian national artistic gymnastics squad. [31] He was the Australian Under-16 national individual apparatus champion on pommel horse in 2012. [32]
Tan graduated in law with honours from the University of Edinburgh and is an Erasmus alumnus of Utrecht University. [33] [34] [35]
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