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Justin’s travels

Justin Tan, now aged 18, has completed his studies at Woodbridge School and is taking a ‘gap’ year to try and achieve some GM norms.   Recently, he played in the US Masters and the Illinois Open.   They were some of his best performances to date. In the Masters he scored 6/9 with a 2573 performance and at Illinois he finished with 5/6 for 2486 (winning $649).

At the end of July he played in the Politiken Cup in Denmark which was “very average” and in August the Vienna Open which was “horrendous” (his words).   But in the Blitz tournament in Vienna he finished second to Matthew Sadler, ahead of Simon Agdestein and seven other GMs, scoring 9/11.   Before that he played in Spain, where he beat a 2571 GM.

Next up (3 – 11 October), Justin is playing in the Isle of Man (alongside Alan Merry, Dagne Ciuksyte and Ed Player), and then from 24 October the prestigious World Youth Championships in Halkidiki, Greece, where he expects to be seeded about sixth or seventh.   Manningtree’s Adam Taylor is also playing in the same Under 18 Open section.

To date, Justin has achieved no GM norms but has been very close on three or four occasions.   He is targetting a rating of 2500 by the end of his gap year (his ‘live’ rating is 2445).

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