A late bloomer!

IM John Paul Wallace has scored a spectacular GM norm at the just completed 2016 Isle of Man tournament. He played 8 GM's in 9 rounds, and finished on 5.5/9. The strength of the field meant that he had a PR over 2600, which is required for a GM level result.
This is a remarkable achievement for Wallace, who is just short of his 40th birthday. Born in 1976, he is the youngest ever Australian Champion, winning the title in 1993/94, at the age of 17. Ten years later he won the Australian Open, before moving to London and stepping back from competitive chess. In recent years he has become more active again, and clearly he has lost none of the strength of his youth.
In the top event Eljanov and Caruana tied for first on 7.5/9, ahead of Naiditsch. For the Australian's the last round was not kind, with Max Illingworth and Emma Guo both losing, finishing on 4.5 and 2.5 respectively.

Wallace,John Paul (2355) - Bachmann,Axel (2645) [E16]
Isle of Man Masters 2 Villa Marina (7.14), 07.10.2016