08A. Qualification Criteria to be an Official Canadian Representative

Over the past 5-6 years we've had several instances where the winner of a section at the CYCC did not immediately possess the qualifications to represent us at the WYCC / WCCC. This was due to the fact that they had previously played FIDE games for another federation. The result is that our FIDE Rep, Hal Bond, had to lead them through a hurried process of getting released from their former Federation and registered as Canadian. In almost every instance, there was no guarantee this would happen in time.

It has been the interpretation of the CFC Directors, that a resident of Canada is eligible to participate in a Canadian Championship - so another measure has to be taken.

My proposal is that the Official Canadian Representative will be the top scoring player, eligible to represent Canada at the time of the qualifying tournament. This rule would be in place for all Canadian Championships and Canadian Olympic Teams (as of the qualification cut-off date).

I would be willing to make a motion to this effect depending on the comments received.

Thank you, Fred!

I agree - we should encourage players to change their FIDE registration to Canada before a qualifying tournament.
On the other hand - the process of changing Federations could take a significant time and not always under control of a particular player.
So, I would like to suggest an amendment to your proposal:
To be the Official Canadian Representative a player should be registered in FIDE as Canadian player or submit to FIDE the application to change Federation to Canada before qualifying Canadian Championship (such as CYCC).

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Originally Posted by Michael Barron

Thank you, Fred!

I agree - we should encourage players to change their FIDE registration to Canada before a qualifying tournament.
On the other hand - the process of changing Federations could take a significant time and not always under control of a particular player.
So, I would like to suggest an amendment to your proposal:
To be the Official Canadian Representative a player should be registered in FIDE as Canadian player or submit to FIDE the application to change Federation to Canada before qualifying Canadian Championship (such as CYCC).

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I agree that only those who are listed under Canada in FIDE, or who have proof that they are in the process of changing federations should be allowed to play in national championships. I know of one player who was playing under another federation and said that he may consider changing federations if he wins the Canadian youth championship, otherwise it was beneficial for him to represent the other federation in international competitions. This seems wrong.

Agreed Vlad - the kid shouldn't play in the CYCC but he is probably right about benefits of keeping a foreign flag for norm tournaments.

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Originally Posted by Vlad Rekhson

I agree that only those who are listed under Canada in FIDE, or who have proof that they are in the process of changing federations should be allowed to play in national championships. I know of one player who was playing under another federation and said that he may consider changing federations if he wins the Canadian youth championship, otherwise it was beneficial for him to represent the other federation in international competitions. This seems wrong.

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The problem is that even if they have applied for a transfer there is no guarantee it will come in before the WCCC/WYCC. Continued discussion is needed to see what the preference should be.

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Originally Posted by Fred McKim

The problem is that even if they have applied for a transfer there is no guarantee it will come in before the WCCC/WYCC. Continued discussion is needed to see what the preference should be.

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At least we know that the person is making an effort. The problem with sending someone who was the top Canadian but who didn't actually win the tournament is that the Swiss system is not that great at determining second place. It is designed to determine the winner of a large competition in a relatively few rounds, but second place is often quite random.

Of course that's been a problem with the Swiss system even back before Dr. Elo when rankings were typically drawn randomly before the event. (We're talking 1940s/1950s here)

I don't pretend to have an answer but do feel strongly that we shouldn't be supportive of someone who says they will only change federations if they win.

Bottom line is no one should be playing in a qualifying event if they are not eligible to compete at the next stage that the event is supposed to be qualifying someone for.

Why should we support the participation of players who can't represent us?

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Originally Posted by Vlad Rekhson

At least we know that the person is making an effort. The problem with sending someone who was the top Canadian but who didn't actually win the tournament is that the Swiss system is not that great at determining second place. It is designed to determine the winner of a large competition in a relatively few rounds, but second place is often quite random.

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The Swiss system takes at most n rounds to find a clear winners in a field of 2 powers n players but usually, with a normal number of draws, a clear winner can be found in 2 powers n-1 rounds. For every position other the the first one that must be clearly defined, two more rounds are required. Source, the obsolete FIDE Organisers Handbook. With the small turnout at both our Zonals, we can say that the second player has been reliably determined.