​Its hard to believe that it has been more than six years since I was first elected CFC president. It always feels like there is so much to do and so little time to do it. Much remains to be done and we have our issues though one can't help but think how far we have come. In March Hal Bond and I attended the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance conference in Ottawa. The previous year, Fred McKim and I attended the same conference in Halifax. Those two conferences which at least in part arose out of our recognition by the Canadian Olympic Committee as the national sports federation for chess after their reorganization under the Canadian NFP act have certainly made the job of the executive much easier. Instead of begging organizers to take on our flagship events we now have communities coming to us with sponsorship opportunities. At one time we had to consider paying organizers to organize tournaments like the Canadian Closed and Women's Closed and now we have stable four year sponsorships in the case of Kingston and other communities looking for ongoing relationships with the CFC. We could probably mine the contacts from those two CSTA conferences for the next decade and we probably will. The CMA's bid for the 2019 NAYCC even benefited from our contacts and received some sponsorship though we were a bit late to that party because of delays at FIDE America in awarding the tournament. Every bit helps and Larry Bevand reports that the CMA did not lose money hosting the tournament.

Three communities have expressed strong interest in hosting the Canadian Open and Canadian Youth Chess Championship in 2021. They are Victoriaville, Quebec, Hamilton, Ontario and Durham Region (Whitby, Ontario and surrounding region). Next year's CYCC/CO will be in Mississauga. The FQE has indicated that Montreal is interested in bidding on the 2024 CYCC/CO.

Halifax, Nova Scotia has bid on the 2020 Canadian Seniors. The executive has accepted their bid for next summer as part of a festival which could become a recurring event.

Memberships and rated games have gone up year over year and once again we have a healthy surplus. I won't steal Fred McKim's thunder but the financial results are good for this fiscal year and will hopefully be even better next year.

We have new management at FIDE and things seem to be gaining momentum there as well.