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 and then came third in 2012.

Classical Tournaments

In June 2010, he won the Victorian Open on tiebreak from Erik O M C 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 John 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. 2013 started with Cheng earning his 3rd IM norm - and the IM title - at the Sydney International Open, scoring 5.5/9.

Rating

Cheng's standard rating as of 1 May 2013 was 2425, making him the top ranked U16 in Australia as well as Australia's top Junior (U20); he is also ranked number 6 overall in Australia, number 3 U16 in Asia, and number 13 U16 in the world. His rapid rating is 2349 and his blitz rating 2430.