I have always prioritized transparency when it comes to what happens on the insides of Canadian chess, which is why I think it's important that I share what happened when players were being selected for the 2023 World Cup, which will be held in Baku in August.
As you likely know, Canada is always able to send one player to the World Cup, and that player is the winner of the 2022 Canadian Zonal (Yuanchen Zhang). 4 years ago, the FIDE increased the number of participants in the World Cup and the additional 100 spots are distributed to the 100 best performing teams from the previous Olympiad. Before the start of the 2022 Canadian Zonal, it was clear that Canada would almost certainly perform in the top 100 at the 2022 Olympiad, and thus the runner-up from the Zonal would be able to attend the World Cup as well.
Unfortunately, the FIDE created a new rule regulating how players could be selected for the World Cup. Only those who had represented their country at the previous Olympiad would be able to play at the World Cup. Players who did not participate in the Olympiad could only play if all 5 players from the previous Olympiad would choose not to participate.
The CFC, like all other national chess organizations, received this information in March through an email from the FIDE. I discussed the contents of the email with a few FIDE officials, including the Head of the Legal Department. I explained that this change put the CFC in a very uncomfortable position, as the runner-up from the Zonal had been told that they would be able to participate in the World Cup. The runner-up was Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux, who had the same amount of points (7/9) as the winner, Yuanchen Zhang, but got second by tiebreak. Shawn did not represent Canada at the 2022 Olympiad, though he was, in fact, very close to receiving a spot.
The FIDE acknowledged that these new regulations were cause for complaint for numerous federations, not only the CFC, but decided not to change anything. I then asked for one of the FIDE President's wild cards (there are 3) to be given to Shawn, taking into consideration that he was also the winner of the 2022 U18 WYCC. I understood that the chances were slim to none, as the President of the FIDE was unlikely to give a spot to an IM rated 2470.
Shawn was notified of all this and also wrote a letter to the FIDE about the situation. As a result of this pressure, the FIDE ended up granting Shawn a wild card spot at the Grand Swiss, another notable tournament. Chess-wise, participation in the Grand Swiss could be even better for Shawn, who would play 11 games against 2600+ rated players. Shawn indicated that he was satisfied with this.
Afterwards, the CFC was supposed to select one of the 5 Olympiad participants from 2022 to play in the World Cup. It was decided that three factors would be taken into consideration for selection: current FIDE rating, performance at the last Olympiad, and results at the last 2 Canadian Championships (2022 and 2023). Eric Hansen edged out Raja Panjwani and Nikolay Noritsyn and was given the spot.
