First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

[Andrei Botez]

Congratulation to Razvan for passing the 2500 CFC rating!

I believe is the youngest ever in Canadian chess history!

[Felix Dumont]

Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

Anton Kovalyov reached 2500 FIDE soon after he arrived in Quebec. He was 14 or 15 (it depends on his exact birthdate). A few players got their IM title at the age of 15 or 16, but I think only Mark Bluvshtein got it before that, at the age of 13 (once again it depends on the exact date). He didn't have over 2500 CFC though (at this point he seemed to focus on international tournaments). So, I think you are right, Razvan is probably the youngest ever.

[John Upper]

Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

It would be interesting to see a list of Youngest Canadians over 2500, similar to the lists ChessBase posts every time there is a really young newly-minted GM.
Their lists have Name, and age in years, months and days.

It would probably be a lot of work to assemble this info, but maybe we could do it if enough people who know could chip in with info about exact birth dates and dates when a player first crossed the 2500 line.

Even approximate dates -- properly qualified as Felix did above -- would be enough to get a good start.

Maybe David Cohen has collected all this info already!?


[suggestion: start another thread for people who want to post about how 2500 isn't what 2500 used to be.]

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

It would be interesting to see a list of Youngest Canadians over 2500, similar to the lists ChessBase posts every time there is a really young newly-minted GM.
Their lists have Name, and age in years, months and days.

It would probably be a lot of work to assemble this info, but maybe we could do it if enough people who know could chip in with info about exact birth dates and dates when a player first crossed the 2500 line.

Even approximate dates -- properly qualified as Felix did above -- would be enough to get a good start.

Maybe David Cohen has collected all this info already!?


[suggestion: start another thread for people who want to post about how 2500 isn't what 2500 used to be.]

Doubt it.
Personal info, and they are not celebrities.

[John Upper]

Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

Doubt it.
Personal info, and they are not celebrities.

What does the "it" refer to?

Personal info, and they are not celebrities.

True, they are not celebrities.

But doesn't the CFC collect birth dates for everyone who enters the CYCC or represents Canada abroad in youth events?
(I haven't been involved in CFC affairs for very long, but maybe CFC governors of past Executive Directors would know this?)

[Kerry Liles]

Re: First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

Congratulation to Razvan for passing the 2500 CFC rating!

I believe is the youngest ever in Canadian chess history!

Congratulations Razvan! Well done... hard work and perseverance.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

What does the "it" refer to?



True, they are not celebrities.

But doesn't the CFC collect birth dates for everyone who enters the CYCC or represents Canada abroad in youth events?
(I haven't been involved in CFC affairs for very long, but maybe CFC governors of past Executive Directors would know this?)

There's no doubt the CFC and the FQE have birth dates for all the (once) young stars.

[Paul Leblanc]

Re: Re : Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

When working on the rating database we discouvered that many players have no date of birth so it was impossible to pull up statistics about juniors ratings. We had to substitute "players below 1200" to get an idea of what was happening to their ratings. Of course, that is an imperfect substitute.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

We have the "rating inflation" factor to take into account. On the 1976 annual rating list, the highest rated player (GM Duncan Suttles) was rated 2468; soon-to-be GM Peter Biyiasas was 2409. How would a 1976-era Suttles do in a match against today's 2691-rated Bator Sambuev, or Biyiasas against 2638-rated Anton Kovalyov? I would tend to slightly favour the old-timers.

Razvan is currently 12th on the rating list at 2506. In 1976 (with a larger pool of CFC members), soon-to-be IM Camille Coudari was ranked 12th at 2280. I would predict that a 1976-era Coudari would have a plus score against the top 12 current Canadians. (top junior in 1976 was Jean Hébert at 2168 - ranked 29th overall).

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

Also, we shouldn't forget IM Richard Wang. He got his title at the age of 13 years, 10 months (but in a Zonal, not by FIDE rating). Bluvshtein was slightly younger though.

[John Upper]

Re: Re : Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

When working on the rating database we discouvered that many players have no date of birth so it was impossible to pull up statistics about juniors ratings. We had to substitute "players below 1200" to get an idea of what was happening to their ratings. Of course, that is an imperfect substitute.

I wonder how many youth players and parents know about this.
A few weeks ago one of the young players at my Club asked why his name wasn't on the "Top Under NN age" list. I'd been studying the MDE database that TDs can download, so I happened to know that it didn't have the birthdates of many many juniors, so I told him to contact the CFC and get them to add his birthday to his info. They did, and now he appears on the list of top players his age.

Also, maybe I'm repeating what Felix said in another post, but we can compile a list of the precise ages of the top young players even if the CFC database doesn't record the birth dates of all the youngsters in the country: we'd need only the birth dates those who were strong enough to represent Canada internationally. Surely FIDE would require the CFC to submit that info for all players in FIDE youth events!?

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

Abe Yanofsky - Manitoba champion and Canadian Championship participant at the age of 12 (1937), and Olympiad participant (best score on board 2) two years later.

[Fred McKim]

Re: Re : Re: Re : First Canadian under 14 to pass 2500 rating?

In fact, if parents are worried about giving an exact birthdate, as long as they give the correct year - everything works fine.