2016 Canadian Player of the Year

[Fred McKim]

Presented below are the 10 candidates for the 2016 Player of the Year honours. We welcome your opinions, prior to commencing the vote in about a week's time.

2016

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GM Eric Hansen
Olympiad Bd4 - 9/11 = 6th overall
=2nd Quebec Carnaval

GM Anton Kovalyov
Olympiad Bd2 - 8/10 = SILVER
=2nd Americas Continental (2420)
Abu Dhabi Festival (2520) - 5.5/9

GM Alexandre Lesiege
1st Quebec Open
Olympiad Bd 3 - 4.5/8
1st Varennes Open (QC)
Francophonie Open (FRA) (2290) - 6.5/9

IM Nikolay Noritsyn
1st Ontario Open
1st Hart House Reading Week Open
1st Hart House Spring Open

GM Razvan Preotu
Awarded GM Title
1st Calgary Int.
=8th World Open (2430)
=9th Washington Int Open (2410)
Manchester GM Norm DRR (2500) - 4/10
1st Mississauga Open
=1st Guelph Winter Pro-Am
2nd Hart House Reading Week Open

GM Bator Sambuev
2nd Quebec Open
=2nd Ontario Open
5th Edmonton Int.
1st Quebec Carnaval
1st Gatineau Open
=2nd Varennes Open (QC)
1st TORO Open (QC)
=1st Riedstra Mem. (ON)

IM Michael Song
Awarded IM Title
=1st NA Youth U18 Champ.
Cappelle-la-Grande (2450) - 5.5/9
NA Open (2420) - 5.5/9
Washington Int. Open (2410) - 5/9
World Open (2430) - 5/9
1st Hart House Holidays Open
=2nd Hart House Spring Open

IM Kaiqi Yang
=7th Canadian Open
=5th Ontario Open
Millionaire Open (2490) - 5.5/9
World Open (2430) - 5.5/9
NA Open (2420) - 5.5/9
Washington Int Open (2410) - 5/9
Philadelphia Open (2380) - 5/8
NA Open (2420) - 5.5/9
=2nd Hart House Holidays Open

WIM Yuanling Yuan
W Olympiad Bd2 - 8.5/10

WIM Qiyu Zhou
Awarded FM Title (1st Wom.)
1st Canadian Wom. Closed Champ. RR
=5th Americas Wom. Continental Champ. (2220)
Wom. Olymiad Bd1 4.5/10
=1st Eastern Ontario Open
=1st Kingston Open
=1st July Keschemt GM DRR (HGRY) (2250)
=1st Riblje IM RR (SRB) (2240)
1st July Keschemt IM DRR (HGRY) (2200)
Stockholm Chess Challenge (2430) - 3.5/9
=2nd National Capital Open

[David Ottosen]

Top 3 for me:

Kovalyov - that Olympiad performance was maybe the second best performance in Canadian chess history after Spraggett in the Candidates. 2852 performance rating in a signature FIDE event

Preotu - GM title award is huge, and decent volume of other results

Zhou - Being the first woman to get the FM title in Canada is a solid milestone, and a bunch of other firsts (including the national championship) make a nice portfolio of accomplishments. A better Olympiad performance would probably have made this a slam dunk.

Logical brain to me says Zhou, but that Kovalyov performance was a shooting star that's hard to ignore.

[Fred McKim]

The finalists for the 2016 Canadian Player of the Year are Anton Kovalyov, Razvan Preotu, and Qiyu Zhou. The results will be revealed in a few days. Comments are as always, welcome.

[Hans Jung]

Hard choices. Any of the three candidates would have easily been player of the year without the other two competing.

[Fred McKim]

GM Razvan Preotu was elected as the Canadian Chess Player of the Year for 2016

Final Voting

1. GM Razvan Preotu - 40
2. GM Anton Kovalyov - 38
3. WIM Qiyu Zhou - 25
4. GM Bator Sambuev - 11
5. GM Eric Hansen - 10
6. IM Michael Song - 9
7. WIM Yuanling Yuan - 2

[Bob Gillanders]

Congratulations Razvan. Well deserved recognition.

Young Razvan was a regular member of Burlington and Mississauga chess clubs.
It was a privilege to watch him develop over the years.

Newer comers to the chess club often ask about Grandmasters. After the obligatory initial comments about Carlsen, Kasparov, and Fischer, I always like add, "well you know, we have our own home grown Grandmaster from Burlington", and then I tell the story of Razvan.

Well done.