Zhao's leading the Australian Open by a clear point with 8/9, and he's played all three GMs, coming up with a plus score: a win against Dejan Antic, and draws against Ian Rogers and Darryl K Johansen.

Unfortunately, his 2650+ performance rating won't translate into a GM norm as the average rating of the field is too low. Better luck in the Sydney International Open in April, perhaps.

Below is an excerpt from the report on abc news online:

<Not only is the 21-year-old student the youngest player to ever become a Grand Master <read Australian>, but he achieved this feat in just seven weeks, when the process usually takes years.

He hopes hoped his achievement will help raise the profile of the sport in Australia.

Australia's first ever Grand Master, Ian Rogers, was at the Gibraltar Tournament when Mr Zhao gained the title by defeating French Grand Master Gildas Goldsztein.

Mr Rogers says becoming a Grand Master is no easy feat.

"You need a series of world class performances and Yuan has achieved them in seven weeks, it's a record," he said.

"No one has ever scored three Grand Master results in such a short period of time. It's absolutely incredible.

"In fact, in Decemeber he played his first ever Grand Master tournament, he won it. His second one, he won that as well.

"[He is the] first player in history to win the first two Grand Master tournaments he's played in and this tournament in Gibraltar's been a bigger open tournament with many more Grand Masters in it, but he came through.">

No small part of this was due to Magnus Carlsen , who Zhao played and lost to in the first round of the World Cup last year.

Zhao commented in a recent article he wrote for the <Australasian Chess> magazine that when he left Australia for the World Cup and subsequent chess competitions in Europe last November:

<I felt even to collect one norm in the four or five European tournaments I was about to take part in can be considered a huge success...>

Zhao played and lost both games against Carlsen in the first round, his first encounter with "an absolute chess elite", and gave the business end of the score of both games in his article. He goes on to write:

<At this point, the reader probably feels a little puzzled thinking why have I just shown two such dramatic games in which I lost? Actually, I joined Magnus Carlsen and his family for dinner after the game and I learnt so much about chess in general. I don't mean of course that I learnt some technical things but the brief contact with him left a very positive impression on my play in the following months. Magnus Carlsen was of the opinion that I already had sufficient chess strength to make my grandmaster dream come true very soon...>

Thus inspired, Zhao went on to win the three GM norms as described in his bio.

It just goes to show how a senior grandmaster can influence the young player, even if that young player is older than the grandmaster!

<That is total rubbish.>

What exactly are you talking about?

1. There are about 600 GM's in the world. Becoming one takes a lot of work. It is considered to be equivalent to around 8 years of study.

2. Australia is a country which does not put as many resources into chess as others do. To become a GM in your 20's is a remarkable feat.

3. Zhao has rarely played overseas until a few years ago (I think). His primary concern, I believe, is his university degree. He only plays part-time.

4. Zhao was 21 when he got the GM title. Taking into account the above, are you calling that regular?

5. Zhao has performed incredibly considering the above. He has so far won his first 3 GM round-robins he has participated in. That has never been done before in the history of chess. He also achieved his GM norms within 2 months, which shows remarkable consistency.