Cecil Rosner is making a major contribution to Canadian chess

[Larry Bevand]

A very accomplished individual, Cecil is now semi-retired and is devoting himself only to projects he enjoys...like a weekly chess column in the Globe & Mail. Last Friday he featured our much loved Hans Jung...Hans is the loveable Teddy Bear of Canadian chess :).

Every Friday Cecil introduces to the Globe & Mail readership an icon of Canadian chess! We are lucky that he is a part of our community!

Here is what I found on the Globe & Mail website:

Cecil Rosner has been a professional journalist in Canada for more than four decades, concentrating for most of that time on reporting and supervising investigative journalism projects. He has taught the principles of investigative journalism widely, and is the author of the definitive history of the genre in Canada – Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada, published by Oxford University Press. He was with the CBC for 31 years, and his last position was as executive producer of The Fifth Estate, CBC's flagship investigative journalism program. For 13 years he served as managing editor of CBC Manitoba, overseeing all editorial content on radio, television and online. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg. His journalism has won many awards, including Michener, Gemini, CAJ, RTDNA and New York and Columbus Film Festival prizes. In 2019, he was given a lifetime achievement award by the Radio Television and Digital News Association.

Cecil is an Expert-level chess player and has written about the game for numerous publications over the years. His articles have appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune, London Free Press, Winnipeg Free Press, New in Chess, Inside Chess, Chess Canada, En Passant, Chess Life and many others. In 2006 he was given the International Organizer designation by FIDE, the international chess federation. He is a board member of the Manitoba Chess Association.

Thank you Cecil!

Larry

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[Frank Dixon]

Cecil's columns have been excellent. Lots of interesting information, topical coverage, and concise format! Cecil, please keep up the great work!

[Hans Jung]

You must be getting sentimental in old age Larry, but in this case you have pointed out a valuable resource to the Canadian chess community. Cecil Rosner has been doing a stellar job writing an informative chess column that also points out chess players and chess organizers of interest and interesting stories. A big thank you to Cecil.

[Kerry Liles]

Here is the column about Hans

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...-much-tougher/

[Brad Thomson]

Hans, when you played 26 boards in London in 1993, was that during the Canadian Open? I played in the tournament but do not remember this simul, I do recall one in Winnipeg, 1994, that may have been a dozen players or more.

[Hans Jung]

It was three weeks before the Canadian Open. I played ten boards at the Canadian Open (in Victoria Park). I lost to Bob Gillanders (who was expert at the time) drew one and won the other eight.
I'm pretty sure in Winnipeg I only did 6 boards, all youth players and I played the Lipnowski brothers. Its strange what I remember and what I dont. I can still remember that day in the park. Kevin Spraggett was giving a normal simul next to mine and there was a folk concert playing in the background and Bob Kiviaho was my move messenger.

[Brad Thomson]

Bob Kiviaho and Grant Evans both told me that they used to play two blindfold games against each other at the same time, one with each colour.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Brad:

Grant Evans was the President of the chess club at Western University (Then University of Western Ontario) when I was in first year in 1964-5.

We both went on the Western Team to the Canadian University Championships in Montreal in Feb., 1965. Grant played first board, and I played 2nd. We were one of the weaker teams.

I won the club championship in 1965 - the club was not all that strong....I took out Grant, and the then Champion of Peterborough, and a few others, to pull it off.

Bob A