Sorry for the late reporting. I was in Kingston for the week and forgot to bring my laptop. We had 16 youths make the long journey to the WYCC this year. The WYCC was held earlier than usual from September 19th to the 30th in the beautiful coastal city of Durban, South Africa. This year’s edition of delegation brought home a new World Champion. That is two years in a row!! I hope this trend continues in Greece next year. Congratulations to Qiyu Zhou in being crowned the World Champion in the U14 Girls. Qiyu scored 8.5 points a very tough section with nerve racking, a nail biting finish going to tie break. The other top performers were Maili-Jade Ouellet (U12 Girls) and Richard Chen (U14 Open) both with 6.5 points and Wenxuan Zhong (U10 Open) and Zachary Dukic (U18 Open) both with 6 points.

I would like to thank all the volunteers and organisers of all the YCCs across the country for bringing organized chess to Canadian youth. I would like to express a special thank you to this year’s CYCC organisers and volunteers for hugely successful tournament in Montreal. Last but not least I would to thank all the parents and families of the youth chess players for their support and encouragement of their children’s passion in chess.

Now to the World Youth U16 (Under 16) Chess Olympiad. This tournament will be held from December 12 to December 22 in the historic city of Győr in northern Hungary. We asked for strong players who would be interested in forming a five player team. The response was so overwhelming that we have organized and supported three teams to participate in this event. I hope the enthusiasm for international events by players and their parent continues.