Top Canadian Knocks Off World # 2 At World Chess Olympiad

[Bob Armstrong]

PRESS RELEASE # 4/2010

DATE: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
BY: The Chess Federation of Canada ( CFC )
WRITER/CONTACT: Bob Armstrong, CFC Governor ( 416-469-5905; bobarm@sympatico.ca )

TOPIC: Young Canadian Chess Player Upsets # 2 in the World – Chess Olympiad

Top Canadian Grandmaster Upsets Second Highest Rated Chess Player in the World – World Chess Olympiad



Today, young Canadian Grandmaster Mark Bluvshtein, of North York, Toronto, pulled off one of the biggest wins of his chess career !!

In the World Chess Olympiad, he defeated the # 2 ranked chess player in the world, Veselin Topalov . Topalov was 2005 FIDE ( World Chess Organization ) World Champion, and in recent years has unsuccessfully challenged twice for the World Champion title. This is a fantastic win for a Canadian !!

Mark just finished his undergraduate university degree at York University in Toronto this Spring. He is 22 years old, and is the top-rated Canadian. This is the fifth Olympiad for Bluvshtein, who became Canada's youngest ever Grandmaster at the age of 16. This year, playing on first board on our 5 player team at the World Chess Olympiad, Mark leads the youngest team Canada has ever sent – an average age of 21 years!

Mark was born in Russia, then lived in Israel where he first developed his chess, and then moved to Canada. He has been Grade 7 and 8 Canadian Champion. While in high school, he has been Grade 10 Canadian Champion, and Boys Under 14 and Boys Under 18 Canadian Champion. He has represented Canada at the World Youth Chess Championships. He is a graduate of North York Newtonbrook Secondary School in Toronto.

He is taking this next year to play as a chess professional, playing in tournaments outside of Canada, mostly in Europe. His goal is to rise into the top 100 chess players in the world within one year.

He is well on his way to this, with wins like this !!

Background to CFC Press Releases :

At the Toronto July CFC AGM, the governors passed Motion 2010-17 creating a non-executive officer position of " Public Relations Coordinator " ( upgrading the prior position of Director of Publicity ). Bylaw 3 of the CFC Handbook, under Duties of Officers in Section 8C, gives the mandate of this position as:

8C. The Public Relations Coordinator will be responsible for promoting the image of the CFC and for promoting chess generally to the public. As such the Public Relations Coordinator will, among other things:

- deal with mainstream media to promote significant chess news, such as Canadian Chess Champions, a new Canadian GM, major tournaments like the Can. Closed, Canadian Open, Can. Women’s Closed, CYCC, etc., the various benefits accruing from playing chess and other positive aspects of the chess culture.

This position in its initial creation never got filled. And currently, the CFC is looking for a volunteer governor/member to fill the vacant Public Relations Coordinator position.

Because of this situation, the CFC has never developed a bank of Canadian mainstream media contacts who might be willing to publish CFC Press Releases on chess items, or to write articles on chess.

I have currently volunteered, in the interim, as a governor, to try to do some preliminary work on this issue, in advance of us finding the right volunteer to fill the position. I only have a limited amount of time to spend on this at the moment, and it will become even less in the Fall. But I am willing to put some volunteer time on the matter. I will write some press releases myself, and on some I will be collaborating with others, under who's name the press release will appear.

Feel free to make use of the CFC Press Releases in any publicity efforts you might be undertaking. I would appreciate being advised of any efforts made and use of the material, so CFC can build a file on the efforts being made to promote chess in Canada.

Newspapers do not acknowledge press releases ( too many daily ) and to my knowledge do not notify you if they make use of one. So if you see an article on this in any of the papers, please advise me. I have been warned that it has not been easy to get chess material into the mainstream media, and so CFC should have very modest expectations of success on this front. But hopefully, over time, with developing contacts, this will change.

If anyone has any newspaper, television or radio contacts I might be able to use, or any advice on this effort, please e-mail me : bobarm@sympatico.ca

Bob