The Chess Federation of Canada or CFC (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

name: ''Fédération canadienne des échecs'') is

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's national

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

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 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

. 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 Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigra ...

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 (chess), grandmaster and author. Known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play, he was the second-strongest non-Soviet Union, Soviet player, behind ...

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 (, ; 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 classical world championshi ...

, Vasily Ivanchuk and

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...

. 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 ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

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 or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

. 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 (FIDE). USCF administers the official national Chess ...

ratings and ninety points higher than

ratings.

CFC Titles

The CFC awards National Master titles to players who perform at a high level. They are awarded to players with a published, non-provisional CFC rating of 2200, and (at any point) three "norms", which are performances of 2300, comprising at least five games each. The other option is getting a non-provisional CFC rating of 2300 at any point. List of CFC titled players
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Current Champions

''as of 2023'' *Canadian Open Champion:

*Canadian Champion: Nikolay Noritsyn *Women's Champion: Svitlana Demchenko *Junior Champion: Johnathan Han *Youth Champion U18: Tymur Keleberda

References

External links

* {{Authority control