2. Opening Comments of Chair

[Lyle Craver]

Fellow members let us welcome our outgoing President Vlad Drkulec

[Vladimir Drkulec]

I would like to welcome you all to this outgoing annual general meeting of the Chess Federation of Canada voting members. We can note that this is the 150th year anniversary of the CFC. I am not sure of the statistics, but it is likely that we are one of the oldest continuously operating federations in the world.

Covid is still a going concern with some people working on their second and third infections despite a high level of Canadian vaccinations and boosters. Covid is not as virulent as it was two years ago. Even the vulnerable are not dying from it. The potential is there for us to come back even stronger than we were just before the pandemic hit.

We are seeing record number of people are playing chess in person with several tournaments hitting numbers of players not seen in decades, if ever. Many players are crossing over from the online world and encouraged by the Queen’s Gambit and the opportunity to play real chess in person we seem poised for some exceptional growth. There are more people playing chess in Canada than ever before. Many of these people are playing online. Juniors have been honing their chess skills over the course of the pandemic and now they are sometimes feasting on the older players who have not been as diligent. There are more opportunities to study chess, play chess and get better at playing chess and we need to help more people enjoy the experience of tournament chess.

Without further ado, I would like to open the meeting and encourage everyone to contribute and ask questions and give insight into what the issues facing chess in Canada are.

Let us begin.