Zhang, Zhi

Zhi Zhang, a 18-year-old Chinese player, is rated 2300 — just 20 short of his peak of 2320 (Sep 2025, age 17) and sitting in the top 2% of players worldwide under 18, and in the top 2% worldwide. He is on a breakout run, having gained +141 Elo over the past 12 months. 140 rated games in the past year (≈30/year long-term). Recent standard appearances include Rebecca Cup The 6th China Chess Rising Stars Tournament 2026, Chinese National Youth Chess Championship 2026(B18), and 17h Penang Heritage City Intenational Chess Open 2025 (Open). Also played 1 rapid (including 27th Asian Youth Chess Championships 2025 - Rapid U18) and 2 blitz events (including 27th Asian Youth Chess Championships 2025 - Blitz U18) recently. He had 2 career breaks: 24 months (2017–2019) and 42 months (2019–2023, COVID-19 included). He reached Chinese #96 in Sep 2025.

At junior level, he reached #10, #13, #52, #32 and #8 nationally in U18, U16, U14, U12 and U10.