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First of all, I'd like to apologize if this letter offends anyone in the CFC office, this is nothing personal. The intention of this open letter is to initiate some urgency in the CFC office, so that I get the money owed to me, money in the amount of nearly $3000....
What sparked this letter was an email I received today from the CFC office, regarding the $1400 I was due for winning the Canadian Junior earlier this year. This money is to be used for my World Junior expenses, mainly for the airfare to Poland (which actually came up to over $1600). The Canadian Junior concluded on May 4th. It is now July 27th, four days before I leave for Poland, and I still have not received anything from the CFC. The email that I mentioned, said that the cheque is being prepared for signature, as in it is not even in the mail yet. The cheque will probably arrive while I'm already in Poland playing my first round game. A cheque will be useless as I won't be home to cash it in, while my dad's credit card gathers more interest. The funny thing is that from my past experiences this is the best I could hope for.
Back in 2005, I won the Canadian Junior and in the process set the record for youngest winner ever- a record that to this day has not been broken. I was as confident as ever in 2005 since I had a number of excellent results; drawing 3 GMs at the Foxwoods Open, winning the Canadian Junior ahead of Zhe Quan (a player who I highly respected and still respect), and then beating 2 GMs at Hal Bond's Guelph Futurity. The future looked bright for me and I couldn't wait until I went to Turkey in November for the World Junior. I had a 3 year hiatus from WYCCs because of financial difficulties preventing me from attending the CYCCs in those years. Finally, I would once again represent Canada on the international stage. I would go to a new country, participate in a legendary tournament that players like Kasparov and Anand had won, and I would get to play GMs my age!
Unfortunately, there was an obstacle in my parents not being able to come with me because of work and I was far too young to go there by myself. I asked the CFC to help one of its young talents who was born and raised in Canada, by funding a coach to accompany me. Board and lodging would be provided by the organizers for a coach, so the airfare would be the only costs. Unfortunately, CFC was not able to do this, and I was crushed; I would once again have to wait to represent Canada. Moreover, an experience like the World Junior at such a young age would only have had a positive impact on my chess, and further inspired me in the future.
However, my spirits were lifted when I was promised that the money to be used for the 2005 World Junior ($1500) would be given to me later for a tournament of my choice.
So in 2008, I wanted to use the $1500 to attend the World Open. However, CFC quickly rejected the notion that there was this money set aside from the 2005 tournament, and that given the CFC's "current state" (serious financial problems at the time) nothing could be done for me. I was quite frustrated, but I left the matter alone at the time.
To add insult to injury, the last two Canadian Junior winners, Artiom Samsonkin and Raja Panjwani, both were able to use the money for a tournament of their choice despite not attending the World Junior. Furthermore, at the Canadian Open Blitz tournament last week I had a chance to speak to Bindi Cheng who is a former Canadian Junior Champion. He told me that in 2006 when he went to the World Junior, he did not have to spend a penny and that all his costs were taken care of (excluding pocket money). This year, CFC will be subtracting 170 euros ("entry fee + organizer's fee" issued by the Poland organizers) from the $1400, so it is really less than $1200 Canadian to be used for a flight that costs over $1600. There is so much talk about what can be done to improve the image of Canadian chess; we can start by not letting our champions go bankrupt.
Enough is enough. It's been 5 years since the first Canadian Junior I won, but CFC has only managed to double its debt to me. I do understand that this is no one's fault in particular, but if someone can step in now and fix the mess that this has become, my family and I would really appreciate it. With university looming this fall, I simply don't have the financial resources to let this play out any further. Not to mention the time, time that could have been used preparing for Poland, instead of writing this letter that should have been unnecessary if the CFC had the slightest bit of urgency and responsibility in their actions.
I should mention Michael Barron, the Junior Coordinator, as the most helpful person throughout this whole ordeal. Special thanks to him for putting in a lot of time to contact the organizers and getting Raja and myself registered for the tournament, as well as helping me to contact the elusive CFC office.
I look forward to hearing what can be done for me, and thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy letter!
Sincerely,
Shiyam Thavandiran
What sparked this letter was an email I received today from the CFC office, regarding the $1400 I was due for winning the Canadian Junior earlier this year. This money is to be used for my World Junior expenses, mainly for the airfare to Poland (which actually came up to over $1600). The Canadian Junior concluded on May 4th. It is now July 27th, four days before I leave for Poland, and I still have not received anything from the CFC. The email that I mentioned, said that the cheque is being prepared for signature, as in it is not even in the mail yet. The cheque will probably arrive while I'm already in Poland playing my first round game. A cheque will be useless as I won't be home to cash it in, while my dad's credit card gathers more interest. The funny thing is that from my past experiences this is the best I could hope for.
Back in 2005, I won the Canadian Junior and in the process set the record for youngest winner ever- a record that to this day has not been broken. I was as confident as ever in 2005 since I had a number of excellent results; drawing 3 GMs at the Foxwoods Open, winning the Canadian Junior ahead of Zhe Quan (a player who I highly respected and still respect), and then beating 2 GMs at Hal Bond's Guelph Futurity. The future looked bright for me and I couldn't wait until I went to Turkey in November for the World Junior. I had a 3 year hiatus from WYCCs because of financial difficulties preventing me from attending the CYCCs in those years. Finally, I would once again represent Canada on the international stage. I would go to a new country, participate in a legendary tournament that players like Kasparov and Anand had won, and I would get to play GMs my age!
Unfortunately, there was an obstacle in my parents not being able to come with me because of work and I was far too young to go there by myself. I asked the CFC to help one of its young talents who was born and raised in Canada, by funding a coach to accompany me. Board and lodging would be provided by the organizers for a coach, so the airfare would be the only costs. Unfortunately, CFC was not able to do this, and I was crushed; I would once again have to wait to represent Canada. Moreover, an experience like the World Junior at such a young age would only have had a positive impact on my chess, and further inspired me in the future.
However, my spirits were lifted when I was promised that the money to be used for the 2005 World Junior ($1500) would be given to me later for a tournament of my choice.
So in 2008, I wanted to use the $1500 to attend the World Open. However, CFC quickly rejected the notion that there was this money set aside from the 2005 tournament, and that given the CFC's "current state" (serious financial problems at the time) nothing could be done for me. I was quite frustrated, but I left the matter alone at the time.
To add insult to injury, the last two Canadian Junior winners, Artiom Samsonkin and Raja Panjwani, both were able to use the money for a tournament of their choice despite not attending the World Junior. Furthermore, at the Canadian Open Blitz tournament last week I had a chance to speak to Bindi Cheng who is a former Canadian Junior Champion. He told me that in 2006 when he went to the World Junior, he did not have to spend a penny and that all his costs were taken care of (excluding pocket money). This year, CFC will be subtracting 170 euros ("entry fee + organizer's fee" issued by the Poland organizers) from the $1400, so it is really less than $1200 Canadian to be used for a flight that costs over $1600. There is so much talk about what can be done to improve the image of Canadian chess; we can start by not letting our champions go bankrupt.
Enough is enough. It's been 5 years since the first Canadian Junior I won, but CFC has only managed to double its debt to me. I do understand that this is no one's fault in particular, but if someone can step in now and fix the mess that this has become, my family and I would really appreciate it. With university looming this fall, I simply don't have the financial resources to let this play out any further. Not to mention the time, time that could have been used preparing for Poland, instead of writing this letter that should have been unnecessary if the CFC had the slightest bit of urgency and responsibility in their actions.
I should mention Michael Barron, the Junior Coordinator, as the most helpful person throughout this whole ordeal. Special thanks to him for putting in a lot of time to contact the organizers and getting Raja and myself registered for the tournament, as well as helping me to contact the elusive CFC office.
I look forward to hearing what can be done for me, and thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy letter!
Sincerely,
Shiyam Thavandiran
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