Olympiad - 2024

Budapest, Sep 10 - 23, 2024.

Major points about qualification for Team Canada.

1. FIDE rating for Open, average CFC-FIDE rating for Women.

2, Bonus 20 points for 1st place, 10 points for 2nd place in Canadian Closed - 2023.

3. Olympic spot for winner of Canadian Zonal - 2024 (Mar-Apr 2024, Hart House).

4. Bonus 20 points for 2nd place, 10 points for 3rd place in Zonal.

5. Penalty 10 points for player who doesn't play / withdraws from both Closed - 2023 AND Zonal - 2024.

6. Final rating for consideration - May 1, 2024.

7. At least 20 rated games (CFC or FIDE) from May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024 (12-months period before the deadline).

Top-10 as of Dec 1, 2023.

1. GM E.Bareev - 2611
2. GM E.Hansen - 2610
3. IM (GM elect) S.Rodrigue-Lemieux - 2512 (2502 + 10)
4. GM B.Sambuev - 2484
5. IM R.Panjwani - 2468
6. IM N.Noritsyn - 2467 (2447 + 20)
7. GM R.Preotu - 2459
8. GM T.Roussel-Roozmon -2457
9. GM K.Spraggett - 2447
10. IM T.Krnan - 2434

Ladies: (FIDE+CFC)/2

1. WIM Y.Li - 2344
2. WGM M.-J.Ouellet - 2270
3. WIM B.Pham - 2260
4. WIM S.Demchenko - 2246 (2226+20)
5. WFM O.Golubeva - 2221
6. WFM A.Botez - 2108
7. WFM M.Mills - 2051
8. WFM R.Chen - 2003
9. V.Ruchinskaya - 1939
10. V.Guo - 1935

Top-10 as of Feb 1, 2024

1. GM E.Bareev - 2611 (9 games)
2. GM E.Hansen - 2610 (6 games)
3. GM P.Charbonneau - 2507 (1 game)
4. IM (GM elect) S.Rodrigue-Lemieux - 2503 (2493+10)
5. GM B.Sambuev - 2474
6. IM N.Noritsyn - 2468 (2448+20)
7. IM R.Panjwani - 2468
8. GM R.Preotu - 2462
9. GM T.Roussel-Roozmon - 2457 (9 games)
10. GM K.Spragett - 2447

Ladies. Top-10 as of Feb 1, 2024.

1. WIM Y.Li - 2320
2. WGM M.-J.Ouellet - 2301
3. WIM S.Demchenko - 2258 (2238+20)
4. WIM B.Pham - 2250
5. WFM O.Golubeva - 2221
6. WFM A.Botez - 2108
7. WFM R.Chen - 2080
8. WFM Y.Guo - 1935
9. C.Qiao - 1930
10. M.Zhang - 1930

It takes me some time to calculate ladies. We use blended CFC-FIDE rating, which definitely requires more effort. But it's OK, I can do it.

The CFC rating of most players is usually 100-200 points higher than their FIDE. But one case is slightly different. For one player, CFC is 1900+, indicating that her FIDE should be around 1800. However, this assumption is very wrong. Her FIDE is above 2200, higher than many Canadians IMs (Vettese 2206, Lawson 2192- both are not too old).

How did this happen?

She has been incredibly successful in many events in Serbia.

In July 2023 she played 3 double RR events (4 players, and therefore 6 games each) and gained a total of 298 points. Yes, her K-factor is 40, but still she got 7.5 more points than expected.

Dec 2023 - Jan 2024 she gained more than 150 rating points in 2 tournaments.

In 3 months she gained 450 points. A few more similar tournaments in Serbia could ensure her spot not only on the Women's Team, but also the National Team, which is even easier in her case, as we use FIDE rating only for the Canadian National team.

She is not the only Canadian player who enjoyed playing in Eastern European chess events and gaining a lot of points. Some other players have even obtained norms and titles like this. However, the huge number of points gained in these tournaments makes her case a very unique one.

The final list

1. IM S.Thavandiran - the Champion
2. GM S.Rodrigue- Lemieux 2540 (2520+10+10)
3. IM N.Noritsyn - 2473 (2453+20)
4. GM R.Preotu - 2472
5. GM B.Sambuev - 2464
6. IM R.Panjwani - 2462
7. IM A.Atanasov - 2440 (2420+20)
8. GM K.Spaggett - 2431 (2441 - 10)
9. IM T.Krnan - 2423 (2433 - 10)
10. IM S.Krishna - 2406

Some explanations.

1. Bonuses from 2023 Canadian Closed. Noritsyn - 20 points (1 place), Rodrigue-Lemieux (2 place) - 10 points.

2. Bonuses from 2024 Zonal. Thavandiran - Olympic Team spot, Atanasov - 20 points (2 place), Rodrigue-Lemieux - 10 points (3 place)

3. Penalty 10 points if a player didn't play/withdrew in both 2023 and 2024 Canadian Championships.

4. 20 games must be played in the period of 12 months before the deadline: May 1, 2023 - May 1, 2024.

Actually, amazing how many times FIDE calculated it wrong yesterday.

Now, the "very final" list for Open Olympiad. Hopefully, I will post the list for Women Olympiad later today.

1. IM S.Thavandiran - the Champion
2. GM S.Rodrigue-Lemieux - 2536 (2516+10+10)
3. IM N.Noritsyn - 2470 (2450+20)
4. GM R.Preotu - 2463
5. IM R.Panjwani - 2461
6. GM B.Sambuev - 2455
7. IM A.Atanasov - 2437 (2417+20)
8. GM K.Spraggett - 2430 (2440-10)
9. IM T.Krnan - 2423 (2433-10)
10. IM S.Krisna - 2404

The gap between number 3 and number 6 is just 15 points. A very tight race this year. Also, all top-7 players from this list played in Zonal, I don't remember a similar situation in previous campaigns.

Women Team

1. WGM M.-J.Ouellet - the Champion
2. WIM Yunshan Li - 2344 = (2268+2379)/2 + 20
3. WIM S.Demchenko - 2280 = (2168+2331)/2 + 20 + 10
4. WIM B.Pham - 2245 = (2199+2290)/2
5. WFM O.Golubeva - 2182 = (2119+2245)/2
6. WFM A.Botez - 2095 = (1971+2239)/2 - 10
7. WFM R.Chen - 2070 = (2222+1938)/2 - 10
8. WFM M.Mills - 2054 = (2013+2094)/2
9. WFM C.Qiao - 2011 = (1894+2147)/2 - 10
10. Yilin Li - 2007 = (1919+2094)/2

I am very happy to report that all top-5 eligible players accepted the invitation for the National Team.

Some statistics about age and experience. Comparison with previous rosters:

Average age:

2012 - 29.4
2014 - 25.4
2016 - 33.4
2018 - 30.0
2022 - 29.8

2024 - 28.8 (second youngest)

Average rating:

2012 - 2467
2014 - 2535
2016 - 2563
2018 - 2556
2022 - 2483

2024 - 2456 (the lowest)

Experience:

Nikolay - number 6 (!) Olympiad
Razvan - 3rd
Raja - 2nd
Shawn, Shiyam - 1st

All Women Team top-5 players have accepted the invitation as well. Personally, I am very optimistic about this line-up.

Average rating this year: 2207.

In 5 previous Olympiads the average was:

2012 - 2024
2014 - 2144
2016 - 2144
2018 - 2168
2022 - 1996 (4 players)