CFC AGM Comments prior to meeting and for non-VM's

The CFC AGM starts Sunday. This thread is open to anyone who is not a Voting Member and would like to ask a question or make a comment. It is also open to anyone who wishes to run for a CFC Director or Officer or Committee Member position, but want to post prior to the meeting or are not a Voting Member.

I am planning to run for CFC Treasurer for 2021/22.

Thanks, Fred, for starting this thread. Danny Goldenberg posted a message on chesstalk, so I copied it here. I'm not sure if he has access here. (his thread was titled "Nominations for CFC Secretary", so I assume that's the position for which he wishes to be nominated).


"Dear CFC voting members,

I am writing here (as you all aware, regular CFC members do not have the access to write on CFC forum) to show my interest for the position indicated in the subject.

If there are voting members, who thinks that I might be an interesting candidate to participate in the fair elections, I will be thankful for nominating and supporting my candidature.

I was staying far from chess politics in Canada until this year, but seeing that regardless to the federation (CFC or FQE and others) it is always the same people who "run the show", I decided that it was a good time for change.

Lets share information, lets be more transparent, lets stop favoritism!

I strongly believe that with my personal and professional qualities, I will be able to bring fresh air to the room.

Sincerely,

International Arbiter / FIDE Master
Danny Goldenberg

P.S. For the ones who do not know me personally, here is a very brief resume of my qualifications:

Studied Political Sciences @ Concordia University (achievement: Winner of the President Award - CSU Club 2006-2007, being elected the best President among 350+ undergraduate clubs in Concordia).
Professional experience: working in Finances, with significant experience in corporate communication, escalations, resolutions, and audits...
Playing chess since 1984 (achievements: youth champion in different countries including CFC U20 champion / FIDE Master since 1998 / Arbiter since 1998 becoming International Arbiter in 2017, being one of the most active arbiters during the latest pre-covid years / Chess coach since 1995).
Perfectly bilingual and fluent in several other languages."

Please take the time to log in and vote for the person overseeing your CFC rating system!

Dear CFC Voting Members,

My name is Tony Li and I am running for Ratings Auditor. For those of you who do not know me, here is a short bio.

Actuary for a Living

I have a BMath from University of Waterloo with minors in statistics and economics. I am an actuary and study trends and manage multi-million dollar risks for my employer.

Chess for Life

I learned the rules of the game at the age of eight in the chess-rich city of Beer Sheva, Israel. However, it was not until ten years later that I played in my first CFC-rated tournament, squeaking out a 1243 performance rating as a young adult. Fortunately, adults can improve! With lots of hard work and commitment (in the form of a CFC Life Membership), I managed to peak at 2086 a decade later.

In the family, we already have a pair of kids playing chess. It won’t be long before I am asked to play 3rd board in team matches!

I also volunteer at my local chess club (Kitchener-Waterloo Chess Club). One of the more unique tournaments we now offer is the Kitchener Chess Marathon (7 rounds rapid and 12+ rounds of blitz over 2 days). Normally, towards the end of the tournament I will survey top players (GM Razvan Preotu, FM Victor Plotkin, FM Hans Jung to name a few) to hear if they would like more rounds for the following year’s edition. They are unanimous in their response - “No, that would be too much chess!”. How often do you hear that from titled players?

My Focus as Ratings Auditor

1. Maintain a statistically sound rating system that reflects player strength and tracks improvement/deterioration in play.
2. Staying alert to risks to the rating system and address them proactively to minimize the need for large-scale manual intervention.

The CFC rating system is facing a big challenge ahead. After a year and a half without OTB tournaments, the re-opening is likely to see abnormal rating impacts from vastly underrated juniors. I will be working proactively with the CFC leadership to implement measures to minimize the impact of this shock to the rating system.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post it here or e-mail me at kwchessclub@gmail.com.