He first learned the moves at approximately seven years old, when his father Henry taught him and his older sister.

He shared first place at the Politiken Cup in 1998 and won the Challengers tournament of the 78th Hastings International Chess Congress in 2003.

[1][2] In September 2006, he tied for 2nd-9th with Luke McShane, Stephen J. Gordon, Gawain Jones, Šarūnas Šulskis, Luís Galego, Klaus Bischoff and Karel van der Weide in the 2nd EU Individual Championship in Liverpool.

[3] In November 2006, Gormally was joint winner of the British Rapidplay Chess Championship.

[4] In 2015, he tied for the second place with David Howell and Nicholas Pert in the 102nd British Championship and eventually finished fourth on tiebreak.