Can. WYCC Team & Medallist - Press Release

[Bob Armstrong]

PRESS RELEASE #4/2011

DATE: Monday, November 28, 2011
BY: The Chess Federation of Canada ( CFC )
TOURNAMENT CONTACT: Andrew Giblon, Head of Canadian Delegation - agiblon@hotmail.com ( Thornhill, Ontario )
CFC CONTACTS: Patrick McDonald, CFC Youth Coordinator (patrick@psmcd.net - Breslau, Ontario ); Bob Armstrong, CFC Public Relations Coordinator ( Tel: 416-469-5905; bobarm@sympatico.ca – Toronto, Ontario )
INTERVIEWS: can be arranged

TOPIC : Canadians Do Well at World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil

Canadian Junior Wins Bronze Medal at World Youth Chess Championships !

Canadian junior chess player, Michael Song, of Toronto, Ontario, has just won the bronze medal at the World Youth Chess Championships in the U 12 years old Open Section in Caldas Novas, Brazil.

The tournament ran from November 18 – 26. Canada sent its largest junior team ever, 40 players.

Michael started playing official tournament chess in May, 2006, when only 7 years old, and achieved a lowly starting Canadian rating of 818 ( the current World Champion is rated 2811 ). But today at 12 years of age, he is now rated as an expert, having a Canadian rating of 2079. And he now has an international FIDE rating of 2032. But Michael has achieved an even higher rating earlier in the year. In February of this year, he became a national master ( 2200 & over ), and he peaked at a high of 2235, before then falling back into the expert category in June.

Michael achieved recognition earlier this year as well in the Canadian Youth Chess Championships in July in Richmond Hill, Ontario, where he ended in a 7-way tie for second in his U 12 Open section.

Michael has been a regular member of a local Toronto chess club since early 2008 where he played in the Reserves Section of the Scarborough Chess Club Championship. By the Spring of this year, he had moved up into the elite 10 player Championship Section, likely the strongest club championship in Canada, where he finished clear third.

Michael has a great chess future ahead of him in Canada, and internationally.

Other Canadians doing exceptionally well, finishing in the top 10, were:

U08G Zhang, Taylor ( Can. Champion ) 5 56 3
U10 Zhang, Yuanchen ( Can. Champion ) 9 121 9
U14 Wang, Richard ( Can. Champion ) 10 132 4

The administrators for the team who attended in Brazil were:

Head of Delegation - Andrew Giblon
Assistant Head of Delegation - Gary Gladstone
CFC Youth Co-ordinator - Patrick McDonald
Coaches - IM Nikolay Noritsyn; FM Andrew Peredun; Michael Egorov

The other 34 members of the team, and their final ranking were:

Section Name Rank Out of Tied For

U08 Pulfer Luke 19 86 17
U08 Wang Frank 34 86 28
U08 Noritsyn Sergey 40 86 38
U08 Talukdar Rohan Shyam 51 86 50

U08G Zhang Jeannie 21 56 19

U10 Wang Dinny 80 121 66

U10G Wang Constance 32 67 20
U10G Paraparan Varshini 42 67 41
U10G Zhou Lily 47 67 41

U12 Preotu Razvan 28 133 24
U12 Chiku-Ratte Olivier-Kenta 40 133 40

U12G Zhou Qiyu 12 88 9
U12G Giblon Melissa 63 88 63
U12G Tao Rachel Long-Xin 71 88 63
U12G Moayyed Dorsa 79 88 79

U14 Plotkin Mark 54 132 39
U14 Fu James 62 132 55
U14 Kalra Agastya 78 132 55
U14 Yang Yimang 107 132 94
U14 Yang Bryant 114 132 112

U14G Giblon Rebecca 47 86 39
U14G Foote Joanne 57 86 48
U14G Hou Louisa Qianqian 74 86 73

U16 Semianiuk Konstantin 39 104 31
U16 Zhang David 44 104 31
U16 Gusev Nikita 52 104 47
U16 Ivanov Mike 63 104 62
U16 Gladstone Simon 83 104 72

U16G Roy Myriam 28 84 24
U16G Yun Chang 43 84 34
U16G Kalaydina Regina Veronicka 48 84 48
U16G Fang Tina Fang 69 84 58
U16G Moayyed Kimia 79 84 76

U18 Laceste Loren Brigham 21 93 16

U18G Orlova Yelizaveta 44 70 41
U18G Fu Linda 69 70 68

Congratulations to all team members who did such a great job representing Canada. Thanks for your great effort!

For more detailed information, see the Canadian WYCC Blog:

http://wycc2011canada.blogspot.com/ .

Background to CFC Press Releases :

In Aug., 2010, I volunteered for the CFC non-executive officer position created at the Toronto July 2010 CFC AGM, the " Public Relations Coordinator " position ( upgrading the prior position of Director of Publicity ), first in an " acting " capacity, and then permanently. I am the first one to take on this position.

Bylaw 3 of the CFC Handbook, under Duties of Officers in Section 8C, gives the mandate of this position as:

8C. The Public Relations Coordinator will be responsible for promoting the image of the CFC and for promoting chess generally to the public. As such the Public Relations Coordinator will, among other things:

- deal with mainstream media to promote significant chess news, such as Canadian Chess Champions, a new Canadian GM, major tournaments like the Can. Closed, Canadian Open, Can. Women’s Closed, CYCC, etc., the various benefits accruing from playing chess and other positive aspects of the chess culture.

I will write some press releases myself, and on some I will be collaborating with others, under who's name the press release will appear. I look forward to the cooperation of the many Canadian chess personalities who may find themselves the subject of CFC Press Releases. CFC cannot do it alone – chess promotion requires the cooperation of everyone, if we are to make chess a more mainstream activity in Canada.

Feel free to make use of the CFC Press Releases in any publicity efforts you might be undertaking. I would appreciate being advised of any efforts made and use of the material, so CFC can build a file on the efforts being made to promote chess in Canada.

Newspapers do not acknowledge press releases ( too many daily ) and to my knowledge do not notify you if they make use of one. So if you see an article on this in any of the papers, please advise me. I have been warned that it has not been easy to get chess material into the mainstream media, and so CFC should have very modest expectations of success on this front. But hopefully, over time, with developing contacts, this will change.

Because the CFC has never before had this position filled, it has never developed a bank of Canadian mainstream media contacts who might be willing to publish CFC Press Releases on chess items, or to write articles on chess. I have been slowly building our media e-mail group, and some members have sent me contacts to add to the media bank. So, if anyone has any newspaper, television or radio contacts I might be able to use, or any advice on this effort, please e-mail me : bobarm@sympatico.ca

Bob Armstrong, CFC Public Relations Coordinator