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Lyle Craver
04-28-2019, 12:10 AM
Executive and Officers, please post your reports here using the lettering given in the Agenda

Paul Leblanc
04-30-2019, 02:03 AM
4.I. Rating Auditor
The system continues to operate well. I get one or two requests from players every quarter to double-check their ratings and almost invariably the software program has done its job accurately.
I also get periodic requests from the CFC office to research old ratings from my archives for players returning to chess after a few decades. There seems to be more of that lately.

My last quarterly sampling of rating averages (end of March), showed a hint of deflation. For example, the average of all players above 1200 had been in a narrow range between 1730 and 1750 for the past 9 years. It slipped below this channel in late 2017 and now sits at just over 1690. Fred McKim, Vincent Chow and myself have just begun a discussion about whether some remedial action might be necessary. Tweaking the bonus formula would be one way to reverse the trend.

Paul Leblanc
04-30-2019, 02:37 AM
4.J. Chess Foundation of Canada
The fiscal year ends April 30th. I expect to report assets of around $350,000 and income for the year around $12,000.

Fred McKim
04-30-2019, 09:18 AM
4L. Treasurer's Report.

I have nothing out of the ordinary to report on this quarter. Memberships are healthy which will assist our bottom line at year end. Please send along any specific questions you have concerning finance.

Fred McKim
CFC Treasurer

Egidijus Zeromskis
04-30-2019, 11:01 AM
My last quarterly sampling of rating averages (end of March), showed a hint of deflation. For example, the average of all players above 1200 had been in a narrow range between 1730 and 1750 for the past 9 years. It slipped below this channel in late 2017 and now sits at just over 1690. Fred McKim, Vincent Chow and myself have just begun a discussion about whether some remedial action might be necessary. Tweaking the bonus formula would be one way to reverse the trend.

Regarding "deflation"
Can you plot yearly histograms? Seeing more and more young players entering chess events, I don't see more and more rating events. Additional bonus points might help though I prefer more actual games.

Victor Plotkin
04-30-2019, 11:12 AM
Paul, I agree with you about some little deflation. Many strong players have a current CFC-FIDE gap less than 100 points, compare to the average of 100+ points a few years ago. My personal gap (2380-2300) is the lowest in last 10 years.

I don't know about some steps to stop this trend. If we can get CFC ratings closer to FIDE ratings - I would like it. That means, little deflation is good now.

Egidijus Zeromskis
04-30-2019, 11:27 AM
Vice-president report:

Participated in various discussions on the Exec board. Though most significant work on ground levels - another good turnout with Aurora Open (~160 players); the club championship with ~60 players and another 20 in the junior section. Also serving on various positions at GTCL and OCA. During the last week vacation I visited my former chess coaches in Lithuania, to commemorate the occasion they organized the "Canada Cup" rapid tournament :) (48 players showed up from various regions http://chess-results.com/tnr430629.aspx?lan=1&art=1 )

ian findlay
04-30-2019, 02:59 PM
Paul, I agree with you about some little deflation. Many strong players have a current CFC-FIDE gap less than 100 points, compare to the average of 100+ points a few years ago. My personal gap (2380-2300) is the lowest in last 10 years.

I don't know about some steps to stop this trend. If we can get CFC ratings closer to FIDE ratings - I would like it. That means, little deflation is good now.

My gap is 131 points (2364-2233) between CFC and FIDE. A lot has to do with where I play. Playing in Las Vegas, I always lose lots of FIDE points playing underrated juniors, and this is not CFC rated. When I play in Europe, I usually gain FIDE points. Also my CFC rating is higher than my USCF rating (2364 - 2343). 20 to 30 years ago, my USCF was always about 100 points higher than my CFC rating. Because of a lot of large class prize events in the US, I nearly feel it is more important to keep our ratings on par with the USCF ratings.

1) Do we have any stats for our ratings vs USCF ratiings
2) I also think a little deflation for the CFC ratings would be good now.

Paul Leblanc
04-30-2019, 09:48 PM
I'll see if I can do a little sampling of CFC vs USCF vs FIDE. When I last tried this 4-5 years ago, I was surprised to find that many of our strong players have USCF ratings that are out of date or didn't have USCF ratings at all.
Victor, thank you for your observation. I am in no rush.

Victor Plotkin
05-01-2019, 11:31 AM
My report as a Master Rep mostly related to the Zonal and it's impact on Canadian Olympic Team.

1. A very well organized tournament, thanks to Aris, Hal and their team. A huge improvement from 2017 championship.

2. Qualification rules (over 2200 CFC or FIDE) was fully followed. Great job! Still, with these strict restrictions, we got 37 players.

3. I support Aris idea (published on CT) to force additional deposit for players who forfeited a game this year. Especially in a Zonal, you can potentially ruin title/norm opportunity.

4. Personally, I would prefer a 6-days schedule (for the Zonal only). 1+2+2+1+2+1 instead of 1+2+2+2+2.

5. For Canadian Olympic Team. According to our rules, this Zonal (and not 2020 Championship) has an impact on the Team. E.Bareev qualifies as a Champion, A.Hambleton and N.Noritsyn get bonuses for 2-nd and 3-rd place.

6. About Canadian Women Championship-2020. According to our rules, April 2020 is less than 5 months before the start of the Olympiad-2020 and thus has no impact on Canadian Women Team-2020. We have 2 options:

a. Change rules from 5 to 3 months.
b. Don't take this championship into account for Olympiad formula.

I prefer option a.

Fred McKim
05-01-2019, 11:40 AM
6. About Canadian Women Championship-2020. According to our rules, April 2020 is less than 5 months before the start of the Olympiad-2020 and thus has no impact on Canadian Women Team-2020. We have 2 options:

a. Change rules from 5 to 3 months.
b. Don't take this championship into account for Olympiad formula.

I prefer option a.

If we can legally change to 3 months (either just for 2020 or for all occasions) I don't think there would be any issues.

However is that also the reason the 2020 Canadian Closed is not used ? If so, we might have to think about consistencies.

Victor Plotkin
05-01-2019, 11:51 AM
Fred, you are right about it. Probably, the best option is to change our rules for 2020 Women Championship only.

Aris Marghetis
05-01-2019, 12:01 PM
Fred, you are right about it. Probably, the best option is to change our rules for 2020 Women Championship only.
I would of course support this. Kingston 2020 has to be on Easter weekend again.

Lyle Craver
05-01-2019, 01:01 PM
Paul do you have a _rough_ idea how many of our members have USCF ratings?

I realize that's a hard question because unlike FIDE numbers USCF numbers don't appear on our 'TD's List'. I was thinking more "SWAG" (silly wild-a**ed guess) than something definite. I would strongly expect the %age to vary wildly within Canada based on region - for instance if you live in Windsor it is much easier to play in Detroit and Chicago events than say somebody from the Maritimes. 30 years ago when I lived in Winnipeg such US play as we got was in Minneapolis and usually involved one or two carloads worth of players...virtually no one below 2000 played anywhere other than Minneapolis.

Vadim Tsypin
05-01-2019, 09:07 PM
CFC Publicity Officer report, Q2 2019

Dear colleagues,

My mandate from the Board includes three principal aspects:
- writing drafts of CFC press-releases and some external communications as needed,
- continuing to engage Ambassadors and other appropriate officials,
- posting interesting news on the CFC Forum and other Web resources.

I was explaining the CFC developments in French in Quebec and tried to engage the FQE rank-and-file with our national federation. One of such examples was the DGT equipment offer. Another one is raising awareness of and promoting the CYCC in Regina.

I systematically informed the Executive, players and parents about changes in regulations and new developments related to the World and Continental events such as the 2019 World Schools Ch., the 2019 World Senior Team Ch., and the 2019 Panamerican Junior U20 Ch.

Respectfully submitted by Vadim Tsypin.

Egidijus Zeromskis
05-02-2019, 08:17 AM
5. For Canadian Olympic Team. According to our rules, this Zonal (and not 2020 Championship) has an impact on the Team. E.Bareev qualifies as a Champion, A.Hambleton and N.Noritsyn get bonuses for 2-nd and 3-rd place..

Would you mind to add (or post elsewhere) actual dates what will be used for the selection process (ratings since/till; first offers, etc). Thnx. I assume the Olympiad date is set already.
Was a participation bonus in the Championship before too? (not just for a prize places)

Victor Plotkin
05-02-2019, 09:45 AM
Would you mind to add (or post elsewhere) actual dates what will be used for the selection process (ratings since/till; first offers, etc). Thnx. I assume the Olympiad date is set already.
Was a participation bonus in the Championship before too? (not just for a prize places)

1. Olympiad: Aug 1 - Aug 20, 2020. The deadline for rating: 5 months before the start, that means Mar 1, 2020.

2. FIDE (for the National Team) on Mar 1, 2020 will be taken. CFC and FIDE (for ladies) on Mar 1, 2020 will be taken.

3. Bonus/penalties for Canadian Championship: 20 points for silver, 10 points for bronze, penalty 10 points if didn't play/withdrew. The Champion gets the spot automatically.

Could please Vlad confirm the correction for the next Women Championship-2020? (3 months before the deadline instead of 5).

Hal Bond
05-02-2019, 10:50 AM
FIDE Report:

The new FIDE leadership is proceeding with changes to the World Championship cycle for both Men’s/Open and Women. A Congress is planned for later this year to ratify these and other changes but the details are not yet known.

The Women’s Cycle has been modified to resemble the Open version, and the challenger for the Women’s title will be determined a Candidates Tournament which will be held in Kazan, Russia, from May 29 – June 18. The Men’s/Open Championship match will be extended to 14 games. Agon has been removed from the equation and FIDE has invited bids for the next match.

The most significant changes are proposed for the World Cup. From the proposal copied below, you will see that the World Cup will be one round longer, and Zonal representation is to be replaced by a Federation’s final standing at the most recent Olympiad, starting with 2020. This proposed change is of great concern to FIDE America, which relies on the Zonal structure in its business model and for its championships. In fact, Europe is the only Continent which does not use its Zonal structure for competition, although the Zone Presidents in Europe are part of the FIDE Executive Board.

I hope to gain a better understanding of this World Cup proposal and your comments are welcome. Even though our results at the Olympiad are typically good enough to qualify for a spot in the World Cup, elimination of FIDE Zones is a concern for Canada. You may recall that the World Cup was not attracting bidders (Khanty Mansiysk hosted 4 in a row!) so it was became an obligation for Olympiad bids.

Congratulations to our newly crowned Zonal Champion GM Evgeny Bareev, and to IO Aris Marghetis for putting together and excellent tournament. I believe this event has room to grow and I look forward to the sequel next year.

The World Cup proposal is presented below for your perusal.

Respectfully submitted

Hal Bond
FIDE Zone 2.2 President and Delegate, Canada


Proposal for the new World Cup format

206 participants are to compete in the World Cup. 1 additional round (Three extra days).
156 players (78 pairs) start in round 1. 50 highest-rated players are directly seeded into round 2.
Approx. 300,000 $ additional budget is required (234,000 $ for prizes + expenses for the venue, arbiters, etc).
Number of participants – 206.

I. 26 spots are distributed among the following categories:
- World Champion
- Previous World Cup semi-finalists
- Junior World Champion
- Women’s World Champion
- Average rating
- President’s Wild Cards
- Organizer’s Wild Cards
(to be specified).

II. 100 participants are decided according to the Final Ranking of the Olympiad 2020.
The top 100 federations are to be represented by their national champions or highest rated players (to be specified).
Maximum 40 federations per Continent may get the “federation spot”. If there are more than 40 from the same Continent, the “federation spot(s)” go(es) to the next federation(s) in the Final Ranking.
If the “federation spot” is given to a player qualified by average Rating, the additional spot goes to the average Rating.

III. 80 are distributed among the four Continents as follows:
- Each Continent is granted 3 spots – 12 spots;
- 8 spots are distributed according to the number of each Continental representatives in the Top 8 players according to the average Rating of twelve standard FIDE junior (under 20) RL from Feb 2020 to Jan 2021.
- 60 spots are distributed according to the number of each Continental representatives in the Top 60 according to the average Rating of twelve standard FIDE RL from Feb 2020 to Jan 2021.

Example of application of point III.

If the calculations are made according to the January 2019 FIDE RL and FIDE junior (under 20) RL, the distribution would be as follows:

Europe – 48 (3 + 3 + 42)
Asia – 18 (3 + 3 + 12)
America – 10 (3 + 2 + 5)
Africa – 4 (3 + 0 + 1)

Vladimir Drkulec
05-02-2019, 12:05 PM
1. Olympiad: Aug 1 - Aug 20, 2020. The deadline for rating: 5 months before the start, that means Mar 1, 2020.

2. FIDE (for the National Team) on Mar 1, 2020 will be taken. CFC and FIDE (for ladies) on Mar 1, 2020 will be taken.

3. Bonus/penalties for Canadian Championship: 20 points for silver, 10 points for bronze, penalty 10 points if didn't play/withdrew. The Champion gets the spot automatically.

Could please Vlad confirm the correction for the next Women Championship-2020? (3 months before the deadline instead of 5).

As long as we can comply with FIDE requirements for naming our team, then I would be in favour of this minor change in the rules. Lets codify it at our next meeting.

Victor Plotkin
05-02-2019, 12:51 PM
Vlad, I want to remind you that at last meeting we started discussing "late withdrawal" from the National Team (A.LeSiege). Any ideas? Looks like we postpone the discussion too often.

Pierre Dénommée
05-02-2019, 02:03 PM
My report as a Master Rep mostly related to the Zonal and it's impact on Canadian Olympic Team.

1. A very well organized tournament, thanks to Aris, Hal and their team. A huge improvement from 2017 championship.

2. Qualification rules (over 2200 CFC or FIDE) was fully followed. Great job! Still, with these strict restrictions, we got 37 players.

3. I support Aris idea (published on CT) to force additional deposit for players who forfeited a game this year. Especially in a Zonal, you can potentially ruin title/norm opportunity.

4. Personally, I would prefer a 6-days schedule (for the Zonal only). 1+2+2+1+2+1 instead of 1+2+2+2+2.

5. For Canadian Olympic Team. According to our rules, this Zonal (and not 2020 Championship) has an impact on the Team. E.Bareev qualifies as a Champion, A.Hambleton and N.Noritsyn get bonuses for 2-nd and 3-rd place.

6. About Canadian Women Championship-2020. According to our rules, April 2020 is less than 5 months before the start of the Olympiad-2020 and thus has no impact on Canadian Women Team-2020. We have 2 options:

a. Change rules from 5 to 3 months.
b. Don't take this championship into account for Olympiad formula.

I prefer option a.

I also prefer option a.

Pierre Dénommée
05-02-2019, 09:29 PM
Woman’s Coordinator

Very little to report on my official function. I though that the Kingston bid included a Canadian Women Championship each year, not only on Zonal year. One Canadian Championship can be organized for 2019 provided that there is enough players.

I have been been the Chief Arbiter of the Quebec Closed. Our new Champion is Zong Yang Yu who gained 23.8 FIDE rating points. The best improvement of FIDE rating goes to Qiuyu Huang who gained 70.4 points. I learned afterwards that Provincial Champions are no longer invited to the Canadian Closed. The winner with represent Quebec at the International Francophone Chess Association Championship where norms are possible.

I have also updated the FQE LTD examination and I am actively preparing for the next LTD seminar. There is something special about this seminar. I will report after it has been successfully completed.

I have incorporated a new League. There does not seem to be any demand in the Lanaudière region for a CYCC regional qualifier. I will organize one if there is a sufficient demand.

Respectfully submitted

Pierre Dénommée

Marcus Wilker
05-03-2019, 09:47 AM
One comment I sometimes hear is from players who haven't played a rated game in some time and feel that their rating from some time ago no longer reflects their ability. Some of these players are interested in "restarting" as an unrated. Should this be allowed?

Aris Marghetis
05-03-2019, 09:53 AM
One comment I sometimes hear is from players who haven't played a rated game in some time and feel that their rating from some time ago no longer reflects their ability. Some of these players are interested in "restarting" as an unrated. Should this be allowed?
In my humble opinion, I would say no. It seems to me there's a vast difference between UNR and whatever any experienced player has "slipped" to. I don't know what better idea to provide, as you do have a point, it's very uncomfortable for such players to return, just to get wiped out their first few tournaments back until their rating re-stabilizes somewhere lower than before. Maybe Paul could consider some king of "inactivity" formula, but my first instinct is to vote against that, as many people with an inactive CFC rating are still at the same (or even better) playing level, as they might have stayed active but online. But still a good question.

Vladimir Drkulec
05-03-2019, 11:10 AM
I believe there was a mechanism where people could reset their rating long ago. I'm not sure that it is still in place.

Fred McKim
05-03-2019, 11:21 AM
I believe there was a mechanism where people could reset their rating long ago. I'm not sure that it is still in place.

If you have a CFC Rating under 1400 and have been inactive for 5+ years you can start again as UNR.

I have a hard time believing that people can slip more than 100-150 points in strength due to inactivity. They should start back at their existing rating and let their "lost" points should go back into the system.

Pierre Dénommée
05-03-2019, 12:18 PM
One comment I sometimes hear is from players who haven't played a rated game in some time and feel that their rating from some time ago no longer reflects their ability. Some of these players are interested in "restarting" as an unrated. Should this be allowed?

I'm inactive as a player, but I have no problem solving most of the daily problems on my phone application. Something gets lost through inactivity, but not everything. I am still able to solve some mates in 4 and in 5 taken from real games (not artistic compositions). Claiming that I am unrated would be deceptive and a lack of respect towards the really unrated players. It would not be long before someone noticed that I am am FQE Certified level 1 trainer (trainer for beginning children), and being an unrated trainer does not make sense.

Aris Marghetis
05-03-2019, 01:01 PM
If you have a CFC Rating under 1400 and have been inactive for 5+ years you can start again as UNR.

I have a hard time believing that people can slip more than 100-150 points in strength due to inactivity. They should start back at their existing rating and let their "lost" points should go back into the system.
I can live with that policy, and I agree with your take.

Vladimir Drkulec
05-03-2019, 01:57 PM
If you have a CFC Rating under 1400 and have been inactive for 5+ years you can start again as UNR.

I have a hard time believing that people can slip more than 100-150 points in strength due to inactivity. They should start back at their existing rating and let their "lost" points should go back into the system.

I can believe that. I know my own strength varies widely in different situations.

Lloyd Lombard
05-03-2019, 07:44 PM
4L. Treasurer's Report.

I have nothing out of the ordinary to report on this quarter. Memberships are healthy which will assist our bottom line at year end. Please send along any specific questions you have concerning finance.

Fred McKim
CFC Treasurer

I've been a voting member for some time now and don't recall seeing a quarterly financial report filed for our meetings. I'd like to see a quarterly financial report filed for our meetings.

Fred McKim
05-03-2019, 09:01 PM
I've been a voting member for some time now and don't recall seeing a quarterly financial report filed for our meetings. I'd like to see a quarterly financial report filed for our meetings.

The specific role of the treasurer is to provide guidance on setting the budget and providing opinions on possible expenditures that occur during the year that are not part of the budget.

Bob has his fingers on the software that produces the statements. We were hoping to have something available for the meeting, but the Paypal crisis intervened. As usual we'll have the full financial statements at the AGM

Marcus Wilker
05-04-2019, 08:19 PM
In my humble opinion, I would say no. It seems to me there's a vast difference between UNR and whatever any experienced player has "slipped" to. I don't know what better idea to provide, as you do have a point, it's very uncomfortable for such players to return, just to get wiped out their first few tournaments back until their rating re-stabilizes somewhere lower than before. Maybe Paul could consider some king of "inactivity" formula, but my first instinct is to vote against that, as many people with an inactive CFC rating are still at the same (or even better) playing level, as they might have stayed active but online. But still a good question.
The other situation, which was more what I had in mind, is when a player has a low rating they had as a child when they may have played a few tournaments, and perhaps they've become significantly stronger in the meantime though study or online play etc. so they're now somewhat loath to resume over-the-board play with the rating they had as a child, which may seem quite irrelevant.
In some of these cases, the under-1400 and 5+ years of inactivity would cover it - I'm happy to learn of this rule. Thanks to all who responded.

Christina Tao
05-09-2019, 01:55 AM
4F Youth Coordinator Report:

Summary of Youth Event

PanAm Team:
Anabelle Atanasov will be the HoD of PanAm Team.
So far, there are confirmed 19 players registered into PanAm team

Communications between Ecuadorian Chess Federation has been established.
Anabelle already sent out registration form and try to setup the team. There is a early bird hotel discount before May 22, so Anabelle is trying very hard to get things go as fast as she can
Here is the PanAm registration process link (http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/showthread.php?5024-2019-PanAmerican-Youth-Chess-Championship-in-Ecuador)


WCCC Team
I will lead the WCCC team to China
The communication between us and Chinese organizer has been established.
The registration deadline has been extended to Jul 25, which is after CYCC.
I also start working on the registration. There are few players already apply for approval as they can't participate in CYCC and want to go to WCCC. I will send another email for approval of these players
Here is the WCCC registration process link (http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/showthread.php?5012-2019-World-Cadet-Youth-Chess-Championship-at-Weifang-China).


WYCC Team.
Vivek Srinvas will be the HoD of WYCC team.
Vivek has India background and he is very fluent in Indian language which is a bonus to the team as well.
I had posted the WYCC registration process link (http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/showthread.php?5049-2019-World-Youth-Chess-Championship-at-Mumbai-India-Oct-1-13) at chess forum.


OYCC presentation
I am going to do my first youth coordinator powerpoint presentation during OYCC time in Kitchener to educate youth chess families about the CFC structure, how to apply for the official players to WCCC/WYCC/PanAm/NAYCC, PanAm Junior U20/NAYCC Junior U20, U16 Chess Olympiad, the importance of different deadline date, the official players selection process and how to read each international tournament invitation file properly.


Christina

Michael Barron
05-09-2019, 08:42 PM
Thank you, Christina, for your work and for informative report!