| Puchen Wang | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Born | 20 January 1990 China[ citation needed ] |
| Title | International Master (2007) |
| FIDE rating | 2455 (June 2023) |
| Peak rating | 2478 (September 2010) |
Puchen Wang (born 20 January 1990) is a New Zealand chess International Master. He became the New Zealand Champion, Rapid Champion and Lightning Champion in January 2007 when he was 17.
Wang was New Zealand Junior Champion at the age of 11, and a winner in the 2005 and 2006 NZCF Grand Prix, topping both the Open and Junior sections. [1]
Wang has twice played for the New Zealand national team at the Chess Olympiads; in 2004, on 1st reserve board at the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvià (+5 –3 =1); and in 2006, on 1st reserve board at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (+5 –1 =3). [2] He has been selected for board 2 for the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden in 2008, behind Grandmaster Murray Chandler.
In May–June 2006, Wang gained the FIDE Master title and an IM norm at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. [3] He won in the 114th New Zealand Championship at Wanganui 2007, at the age of 17. In May 2007 he came away unbeaten in the Zonal Tournament of Oceania held in Fiji. He shared second place, behind Zhao Zong-Yuan of Australia, with a score of 61⁄2/9 that enabled him to be awarded the International Master (IM) title. [4]
He was invited to the Euwe Stimulus Tournament in Arnhem, The Netherlands, 17–26 August 2007. It was an invitational tournament in the format of a nine-round Round Robin. Together with this group, ten players competed in a regional group. Players included Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua, Oscar Panno, Friðrik Ólafsson and Nona Gaprindashvili. The tournament was won by Amon Simutowe, and Wang was placed third. [5]
He was not able to defend his New Zealand Champion title in January 2008 as he was due to sit an exam, but he did retain his Lightning title. [6]
For the year 2008, Wang is taking a gap year before going to university to try to achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title. Wang will be travelling to Europe mid-February 2008 to play in several strong events to gain experience and gain opportunities to become New Zealand's second Grandmaster (after Murray Chandler). He is being supported and project managed in this by the New Zealand Chess Federation, and there was a "launch" at the 115th New Zealand Chess Congress in January 2008 of "Project Grandmaster". The New Zealand Chess Federation is seeking to provide the best tournament format and funding vehicle to maximise his chances for success, which they estimate a budget of $50,000 is required. [6]
He began this European tour with the 24th Cappelle La Grande Open (16–23 February 2008) in Spain. Seeded 140th out of 612 players, he finished 71st with a score of 6/9 (+4, =4, -1) and tournament performance rating of 2425. [7]
In 2014 he again became New Zealand Champion.
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE, is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20, 1924. Its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for "We are one Family". In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As of May 2022, there are 200 member federations of FIDE.
Machgielis "Max" Euwe was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.
Mark Bluvshtein is a Soviet-born Canadian chess player. He became the youngest Canadian ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 16. He previously achieved the title International Master at the age of 13.
Murray Graham Chandler is a chess grandmaster who has played internationally for New Zealand and for England, after he gained British citizenship in the early 1980s. Chandler is also known as a chess writer and occasional organiser of chess tournaments. He is also the only NZ chess over-the-board grandmaster.
Manuel Aaron is the first Indian chess master in the second half of the 20th century. He dominated chess in India in the 1960s to the 1980s, was the national champion of India nine times between 1959 and 1981. He is India's first player to be awarded the International Master title, and is one of the key figures in introducing international chess practices to India; until the 1960s, Indian chess was often played using many local traditional variants. Aaron helped popularize the international variety, forming many chess groups and urging players to study openings and other formal chess literature.
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang became the fourth Chinese player to break through the 2700 Elo rating mark.
Mikhail Gurevich is a Soviet-born Belgian chess player. He was a top ten ranked player from 1989 to 1991. Gurevich became an International Grandmaster in 1986, and is currently an FIDE arbiter and senior trainer.
Erik Ruben Lundin was a Swedish chess master.
Calvin Prasad is an Indo-Fijian chess player. He is the first male chess player to earn a Candidate Master (CM) title for the small chess community of Fiji.
Sergio Mariotti is an Italian chess player. He is the first Italian to achieve the title of Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded him in 1974.
Igor Zugic is a Canadian chess player who holds the FIDE title of International Master. He was the 2006 Canadian Champion and is an engineer by profession.
Zhao Zong-Yuan is an Australian chess Grandmaster. As of September 2019, he was the third-ranked active chess player in Australia.
Events in chess in 1990;
Viorel Iordăchescu is a chess grandmaster from the Republic of Moldova, member of the Olympic Team of the Republic of Moldova, FIDE Senior Trainer, commentator, the President of the National Chess Academy of Moldova, and politician. He was awarded the title of grandmaster by FIDE in 1999.
Helen Milligan is a Scottish-New Zealand chess player holding the FIDE titles of Candidate Master (CM) and Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and three-time Asian senior women's champion.
Robert Wayne Smith is a chess player who holds the title of FIDE Master (FM).
Igor Bjelobrk is an Australian chess International Master (IM). He gained the International Master title after winning the 2013 Oceania Zonal Chess Championship held on Sonaisali Island, Fiji.
Max Illingworth is an Australian former chess player, and current chess trainer and writer. In 2022 he started playing poker professionally. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2016, becoming the fifth Australian to achieve this. Illingworth won the Steiner Medal in 2011, 2012 and 2015. His current FIDE rating is 2493. He retired from competitive chess in 2019, to concentrate on coaching and writing.
Sue Yuchan Maroroa Jones was a New Zealand-English chess player who held the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM). She represented New Zealand in five Chess Olympiads and England at the 2014 Chess Olympiad.
Julia Ryjanova is a Russian and Australian chess player with the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship in 2001.