The Chess Federation of Canada or CFC (
French name: ''Fédération canadienne des échecs'') is
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
's national
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
organization. Canadian Chess Association, founded in 1872, was replaced in 1932 by the Canadian Chess Federation (CCF), which for the first time included representation from all major cities in Canada. In 1945 the name was changed to avoid confusion with the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. The CFC organizes tournaments and publishes national ratings. The highest rated player in Canada is Evgeny Bareev of Toronto.
Activities
From 1974 to 2008 the CFC published a bi-monthly magazine called ''Chess Canada''. Its former titles were ''En Passant'' and ''CFC Bulletin''. The magazine reported on the latest important tournaments in Canada, especially those with
Grandmaster-strength players, including many game scores. The magazine also printed the top ratings of several age groups and top overall in Canada. ''Chess Canada'' also posted notices of upcoming tournaments across Canada. It has since been replaced with an online magazine, which contains many of the same functions. The editor is John Upper.
The CFC organizes the Canadian Open every July. The first Canadian Open was held in Montreal in 1956 and saw the participation of Bobby Fischer. In recent years, the tournament has increased in prestige, becoming a part of the
ACP Tour in 200
Previous editions attracted
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...
,
Paul Keres
Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...
,
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen (4 March 1935 – 9 September 2010) was a Danish chess grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second strongest non-Soviet player, behind Bobby Fischer, for much of the 19 ...
,
Ljubomir Ljubojević
Ljubomir Ljubojević (; born November 2, 1950) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the Yugoslav Chess Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982.
Life and career
Ljubojević was born on 2 November 1950 in Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia (now Užice, S ...
,
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.
He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...
,
Vasily Ivanchuk and
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...
. The Canadian Youth Chess Championships are usually held just prior to the Canadian Open at the same location.
The CFC organizes a national championship every one or two years. As Canada is a
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
Zone, many players earn their
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
or FIDE Master title in the
Canadian Chess Championship This is the list of all the winners of the Canadian Chess Championship, often referred to as the Canadian Closed Championship to distinguish it from the annual Canadian Open tournament. The winner of the Canadian Closed advances to the World Cup st ...
. In addition, the CFC runs the Canadian Women's and Canadian Junior Championship. It also sends men's and women's teams to
Chess Olympiads
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...
held every other year.
Ratings system
The CFC uses the
ELO rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor.
The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...
. CFC ratings for a player tend to be around fifty points higher than
United States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...
ratings and ninety points higher than
FIDE
The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
ratings.
CFC Titles
The CFC awards
chess titles
A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...
to players who perform at a high level.
Besides the minimum ratings shown below there are several other conditions that must be met involving norms and other factors.
* National Master (2200)
* National Candidate Master (2000)
List of CFC titled players
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Current Champions
*Canadian Champion: Evgeny Bareev
Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (russian: Евгений Ильгизович Бареев; born 21 November 1966) is a Russian-Canadian chess player and trainer. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1989, he was ranked fourth in the FIDE world r ...
*Women's Champion: Maili-Jade Ouellet
Maili-Jade Ouellet (born 2002) is a Canadian chess player, who holds the title Woman Grandmaster.
Biography
Ouellet learned to play chess as a child and began competing in tournaments at 7 years of age.
In 2014, Ouellet won the Canadian Youth C ...
*Junior Champion U18: Richard Wang
See also
* Canadian chess periodicals Canadian chess periodicals encompasses the names, publication dates and history of the many chess magazines published in Canada.
Chess Federation of Canada
''Chess Canada'' formerly called, ''En Passant'' and ''CFC Bulletin'' was a hard copy bi-m ...
* Manitoba Chess Association The Manitoba Chess Association, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is the official organization for rated chess tournaments in Manitoba.
History
The Winnipeg Chess Club was founded in 1895, and before long it was one of the leading chess c ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
Chess in Canada
Sports governing bodies in Canada
1872 establishments in Canada
Sports organizations established in 1872
Chess organizations
1872 in chess
1932 in chess