World Youth 2018 (Rapid/Blitz + Classical) - Halkidiki, Greece - Oct (16) 19-31

[Vadim Tsypin]

On behalf of the CFC President and the Youth Coordinator, this is an important message for players in U14 / U16 / U18 Girls and Open.

This year, the classical World Youth Chess Championships that features those age/gender categories will be preceded by the World Youth U14, U16, U18 Rapid and Blitz Championships 2018 which takes place in the same location (Porto Carras resort in Halkidiki, Greece) under the umbrella of the 2018 Halkidiki Chess Festival. This is a new situation for the world and for Canada. There is a lot of potential for confusion, but also a chance for player U14 and up who like faster time controls to excel on the world stage.

On July 12, the CFC has appointed the Acting Head of Delegation for Team Canada.

We ask the players and parents to familiarize themselves with rules, regulations and deadlines, then to send notices of intention to the Acting HOD. Details follow.

The 2nd FIDE World Youth U14, U16, U18 Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships will be held in Porto Carras, Halkidiki, Greece, from 16th of October (arrivals) to 20th of October 2018 (departures).

The World Youth Chess Championships 2018 will be held in Porto Carras, Halkidiki, Greece, on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea from 19th of October (arrivals, technical meeting) to 31st of October 2018 (departures).

The tournament Web site is not yet active as of 2018-July-11.

Official document for the WYCC.

Official document for the World Youth Rapid and Blitz.

The all-important Article 712 of the CFC Handbook in in its entirety; explains how official and additional players are selected.

This is the list of players from the 2018 Quebec City CYCC who are covered by provisions in 712a) and 712b):

Girls U-14
1 WFM He, Emma ON (Toronto)
2 Guo, Haotong Hazel ON (Markham)
3 Wang, Isabelle QC (Montreal)

Girls U-16
1 WIM Ouellet, Maili-Jade QC (St. Lambert)
2 WFM Demchenko, Svitlana ON (Ottawa)
3-4 Cui, Cynthia NB (Fredericton)
3-4 Botez, Andrea BC (Burnaby)

Girls U-18
1 Li, Yi Lin QC (Lasalle)
2 Eirew, Pepi BC (Vancouver)
3 Yu, Xin Yi (Cindy) QC (Lavaltrie)

Open U-14
1 FM Vettese, Nicholas ON (Toronto)
2 FM Rodrigue-Lemieux, Shawn QC (Montreal)
3 Zhao, Ian AB (Calgary)

Open U-16
1 CM Talukdar, Rohan ON (Windsor)
2 CM Doknjas, Joshua BC (Surrey)
3-4 Surya, Benito ON (Mississauga)
3-4 Li, William ON (Scarborough)

Open U-18
1 Zhu, Brandon BC (Burnaby)
2-3 Colvin, Andrew ON (Cookstown)
2-3 Bremner, William BC (North Vancouver)


The CFC Board of Directors will discuss, adopt and communicate publicly a policy on the participation in the World Youth Rapid & Blitz shortly. For now, it is understood that every player invited or additional player who is part of Team Canada for the main, classical, event would be welcome to Team Canada for the run-up event. Attention parents: fees and charges for the two events are separate; please study closely both documents at the links above.

All registrations for both events go through the CFC and will be handled by the HOD. As per the regulations, "The deadline for registration is 20 August 2018". Attention: this is the absolute deadline for the federation to submit all documents from dozens of team members in a single batch. An internal deadline when the CFC needs to receive everything from the parents (names, passport copies, payments, flight data etc.) would happen much earlier, probably around August 07.

The "15 days after ending of CYCC" end on July 20. As per 712d), please communicate your intention to become an official or an additional player at the World Youth to the Acting HOD:
wycc2018greece(at)gmail(dot)com
by July 20. These messages will be accessible to the CFC Youth Coordinator Undriadi Benggawan as well.

Good luck! Halkidiki is a wonderful place and many Canadian families have great memories of the previous WYCCs (non-split yet) that were held there. It is time for a new generation of Canadian junior chess players to take over. Come one, come all. Go Canada go!