Jack Puccini

Jack Puccini is an Australian born chess player and Fide Master. He was born on 16 July 1999, and received the CM (Candidate Master) title after scoring 4/9 in the 2013 Oceania Open Zonal with a performance rating of 1629. He later received the FM (Fide Master) title in 2015.

Jack was born in Melbourne, and attended Spensley Street Primary School where he first learnt to play chess at the age of eight, taught by his first chess coach FM Nick Speck. Nick was known to teach Jack how to move a piece using only 3 fingers, a technique Jack still uses to this day. He later attended Northcote High School where he currently studies.

Jack first played for Australia in the 2012 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, Turkey, as a part of the C team. He also played in the 2013 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad held in Chongqian, China, as a part of the B team. Finally he played in the 2014 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad held in Györ, Hungary, where he received a brilliancy prize for his game against Luka Radovic of Serbia. He also competed in the 2013 World Junior Chess Championship held in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Other international tournaments he has played include the London Chess Classic (2013) and the Thailand Open Chess Championship in 2013,2014 and 2015.

Jack is currently ranked 30th in Australia in the Open Division and 4th in Australia in the U18 Division.

Although criticised for his opening choice of the Morra Gambit, most notably by Australian Grand Master Ian Rogers, Puccini employed the Morra gambit in his 19 move win over GM John Paul Gomez, using the ideas of Esserman.

Jack is said to have retired in June 2016 after his loss to Regan Crowley in a chess allegro held at Melbourne Chess Club.