2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

[Felix Dumont]

The 2014 CO and CYCC has been awarded to the FQE (Montreal). No other bid was submitted. We present here the minimum conditions, and we hope to have suggestions on what would players hope/expect from the 2014 national tournaments. For obvious reasons, we will not do too much promises before we have confirmed the venue (although it's promising so far).

2014 Canadian Open and CYCC
The venue is still to be determined. It could largely affect the playing conditions and the prize fund (the bid presents the minimum guaranteed prize fund).
FQE or CFC membership required (as per the FQE-CFC deal).
The tournaments would be organized by the FQE, which would assume all possible deficit.

Canadian Open (July 20-27)
9 rounds over 8 days
Minimum guaranteed prize fund : $18 000
5 sections (based on the players’ highest rating) :
2400+ ; U2400 ; U2000 ; U1700 ; U1300
All sections are CFC and FQE rated. The first two are also FIDE rated.
Low entry fees to promote a better participation
The entry fee for the 2400+ section will depend on the players’ FIDE rating (in order to keep the average rating as high as possible and offer great norm chances).
Free accommodation and appearance fee for GMs
Free entry for IMs
Every provincial association is entitled to send one IM, which will receive an appearance fee of $250. If the FQE has not received any name from an association as of January 1st, the appearance fee will be offered to the highest FIDE-rated IM of the province.

This tournament will be merged with the Quebec Open (which usually takes place at this time of the year).

Mini-CO
A great opportunity for out-of-town players. They play 4 rounds, including 3 with the other players of the CO and one between the players of the Mini-CO. There’s a separate prize fund of $600 for it. The entry fee should be significantly lower (about $30).

CYCC (July 17-20)
7 rounds (CFC and FQE rated) ; Possibility of having the older sections FIDE rated (we are waiting for your suggestions!)
Free entry for the 2013 CYCC winners
$150 per paid entry will be given to the CFC. All the remaining profit (from the organizer part) will be given back to the youth chess by the organizers (the exact way is still to be determined).
CYCC participants will get free entry for the Canadian Open (under certain conditions)

[Michael Barron]

Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Thank you, Felix!
It's great news!

Just one suggestion:
Please schedule CYCC one day earlier - July 16-19.
It would help to organize both tournaments better!

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Thank you, Felix!
It's great news!

Just one suggestion:
Please schedule CYCC one day earlier - July 16-19.
It would help to organize both tournaments better!

Thanks for the suggestion. This was one of our main concerns. We saw that it was pretty frequent to have the CYCC finishing on the same day as the CO begins, but you might be right. This is definitely something we will try to investigate (especially now that we are negociating with hotels).

[George Cai]

Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Congratulations, Felix!

It is a great news to youth players:
1: 7 rounds
2: CYCC participants will get free entry for the Canadian Open

[Michael Yip]

Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Don't forget free entry to Bob Armstrong. Maybe you can assign him a photographer or lend him a camera too.

[John Upper]

Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Agree with the suggestion that you put a day between the CYCC and CO.
Esp with a 7 round CYCC: if you run it as 2 rounds/day + 1 on last day, you'll still need time for tiebreaks.

Combining one full-length round + tiebreaks + registration for the CO + the first round of the CO is extremely tight scheduling, and maybe too much chess even for the most energetic CYCC kids.

[Erik Malmsten]

Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Canadian Open (July 20-27)
9 rounds over 8 days
Every provincial association is entitled to send one IM, which will receive an appearance fee of $250. If the FQE has not received any name from an association as of January 1st, the appearance fee will be offered to the highest FIDE-rated IM of the province.

This tournament will be merged with the Quebec Open (which usually takes place at this time of the year).

Mini-CO
A great opportunity for out-of-town players. They play 4 rounds, including 3 with the other players of the CO and one between the players of the Mini-CO. There’s a separate prize fund of $600 for it. The entry fee should be significantly lower (about $30).
CYCC participants will get free entry for the Canadian Open (under certain conditions)

Hi There are some interesting ideas here.

I like free entry for provincial/regional champions, but not all areas have IMs.

The mini-CO sounds interesting, not sure when it is. It might be useful for local newcomers. I though some keeners would be interested in a parallel tournament, such as if the official CO rounds are at 6, there's another tournament game earlier in the day. That happened before with the CO and Canadian Closed on at the same time. Or having a different kind of tournament during each day: speed, rated active, chess960, doublechess, blindfold, etc. But my experience with the Canadian Opens in Toronto is that few players came to daytime lectures & simults, perhaps because they were at work or sightseeing. This is different than my experience at professional conferences which have breakfast meetings and are packed with seminars all day and evening.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

The mini-CO sounds interesting, not sure when it is. It might be useful for local newcomers. I though some keeners would be interested in a parallel tournament, such as if the official CO rounds are at 6, there's another tournament game earlier in the day. That happened before with the CO and Canadian Closed on at the same time. Or having a different kind of tournament during each day: speed, rated active, chess960, doublechess, blindfold, etc. But my experience with the Canadian Opens in Toronto is that few players came to daytime lectures & simults, perhaps because they were at work or sightseeing. This is different than my experience at professional conferences which have breakfast meetings and are packed with seminars all day and evening.

The idea would be to hold it during the first week-end. The CO should begin on the Saturday evening and have two rounds on the first Sunday. So, the Mini-CO could start on Saturday morning (1 round only between the participants of the Mini-CO) and then join the Canadian Open for the next three rounds (in their respective sections). After 4 rounds (including 3 with the other players), the participants with the best results (no matter in which section they are) win prizes. Players who then wish to continue for the rest of the tournament can do it.

We should also have side activities and tournaments, but as you pointed out, they are usually not that popular (except maybe for the traditional Quebec Open blitz).

[Toto Surya]

Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Congratulations Felix!

It is great to see CYCC is back to 7 rounds next year.

I would like to share from my own kids experience (and some of the kids that I know); they love trophies. For younger kids, usually the bigger the better. :)
And have the big trophies shown on a table during and/or before the tournament begin (like last year in Surrey) would likely boost motivation for many kids to play well in the tournament.

[Victoria Jung-Doknjas]

Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

The 2014 CO and CYCC has been awarded to the FQE (Montreal). No other bid was submitted. We present here the minimum conditions, and we hope to have suggestions on what would players hope/expect from the 2014 national tournaments. For obvious reasons, we will not do too much promises before we have confirmed the venue (although it's promising so far).

Congratulations on winning the bid for the 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC! Montreal is a wonderful place to visit.

I have a few comments and questions:

1. The 2014 Pan American Youth Festival will be held in Mexico from July 24 - July 31, 2014. I know that it is difficult to coordinate tournament dates just within Canada, and even more difficult with World events; but, it would be nice to have a bit more breathing room between the CYCC dates and the Pan American dates if possible.

2. When you say "Free entry for the 2013 CYCC winners" is this the official 12 Champions after playoffs? Or does this include those players who tied for first place after the 6 rounds of regulation play (note that there were no less than THREE sections with a 4-way tie for first place!); or does this include ALL 2013 CYCC first, second, and third place winners?

3. I agree with another commenter that kids, esp. the younger groups, enjoy trophies. In 2010, John Coleman and his Windsor group, introduced for the first time "junior" trophies; this continued in the 2011 CYCC in Richmond Hill, and in 2012 in Surrey. Surrey went a step further and provided trophies from 1st to (in some sections) 7th place; AND those not receiving championship trophies, received small participation/outstanding national competitor trophies.

4. For many kids, the CYCC is their first time being at a national event -- providing a permanent keepsake for their accomplishment of qualifying for this major event makes the event that much nicer and memorable. Remember it is only about 14% of participants who win top 3 -- let's not forget the rest of the 86%.

5. Bughouse tournament after the CYCC is always a very popular and fun event with the kids.

6. You state: "CYCC participants will get free entry for the Canadian Open (under certain conditions)". What are these "certain conditions"?

7. If you are giving away CYCC T-shirts, non-white T-shirt are often more appealing. The 2011 and 2012 Team Canada who went to the WYCC specifically choose RED T-shirts/Polo shirts opposed to WHITE. The test is this: Would YOU wear this CYCC T-shirt after the CYCC is over? If yes, then it's a winner!

8. Please ensure that washrooms are located in the tournament hall (ideal!) or very nearby the tournament room, and that parents/hotel strangers do not have access to these washrooms during the tournament games. Please also ensure that parents and kids are able to connect with each other right after their child's game is done and not left wandering out of the hotel/venue lobby alone. Children's safety should always be a priority and one of the key topics for the Organizing Committee. Remember, there can be kids as young as 5 or 6 years old participating in the CYCC.

Look forward to seeing more details in the coming months for your 2014 CYCC. Congratulations again!

Victoria

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Thanks. I'll try to answer all your questions.

1) We could unfortunately not move the dates by more than one day or two. We organize the tournament during the Construction Holiday, so we can have as many participants as possible... Maybe the CYCC will qualify for the next pan-ams?

2)It would only be for the official first place winners after tie-breaks.

3)I'm not much aware of what was done in the past, but we'll make sure to have nice trophies and medals.

4) We will do of our best to make sure that every participant keep a good memory of the tournament. I can't give any details as of now, but we will try to organize some activities, give away additional prizes, etc.

5) I convinced the FQE to organize a bughouse tournament during the Quebec Open (next Saturday). We'll be able to tell how succesfull it was. In any case, it would sure be nice for the CYCC (although quite hard to organize!).

6) The conditions would most likely be that participants register before a certain date and that they play in their respective sections. It would also probably not be valid for the 2400+ section.

7) We already have a contact with a good company that makes promotional t-shirts and toys. We'll make sure everything looks nice! We bought duffel bags for Team-Quebec, and many kids still use them to carry their chess sets and clocks :)

8) The venue is still not confirmed, but I don't think that washrooms should be an issue with the major hotels (although we will still verify it).

[Victoria Jung-Doknjas]

Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Thanks. I'll try to answer all your questions.

1) We could unfortunately not move the dates by more than one day or two. We organize the tournament during the Construction Holiday, so we can have as many participants as possible... Maybe the CYCC will qualify for the next pan-ams?

2)It would only be for the official first place winners after tie-breaks.

3)I'm not much aware of what was done in the past, but we'll make sure to have nice trophies and medals.

4) We will do of our best to make sure that every participant keep a good memory of the tournament. I can't give any details as of now, but we will try to organize some activities, give away additional prizes, etc.

5) I convinced the FQE to organize a bughouse tournament during the Quebec Open (next Saturday). We'll be able to tell how succesfull it was. In any case, it would sure be nice for the CYCC (although quite hard to organize!).

6) The conditions would most likely be that participants register before a certain date and that they play in their respective sections. It would also probably not be valid for the 2400+ section.

7) We already have a contact with a good company that makes promotional t-shirts and toys. We'll make sure everything looks nice! We bought duffel bags for Team-Quebec, and many kids still use them to carry their chess sets and clocks :)

8) The venue is still not confirmed, but I don't think that washrooms should be an issue with the major hotels (although we will still verify it).

Thanks Felix for your prompt and detailed response. It is been my experience that Organizers who take the time to diligently respond to enquiries are people who care enough to make their event an excellent one.

One last comment is that I have observed Bughouse is not as popular in adult tournaments as it is in Youth events -- so likely you will see low participation for the Bughouse tournament during the Quebec Open (adults/serious juniors tend to prefer a Blitz tournament), but I guarantee you a LARGE turnout for a Bughouse tournament for the CYCC, esp. if it is just AFTER the CYCC is over and it is zero cost (or nominal cost).

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post.

Victoria

[Michael Barron]

Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

The CO should begin on the Saturday evening and have two rounds on the first Sunday...

If so, Felix, please check your calendar.
July 20, 2014 is the Sunday.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

If so, Felix, please check your calendar.
July 20, 2014 is the Sunday.

Hi Michael,

We received lots of comments about possibly moving the dates one or two days earlier, so there could be some gap between the CO and the CYCC. If it's the case, then we believe that starting the tournament on the Saturday night could be a good option. I don't think anybody would mind if we changed the dates by one day at this point, but obviously we would have it approved by the CFC executive first.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Re : Re: Re : Re: 2014 Canadian Open and CYCC

Minor date changes should be fine without any fuss from the CFC. As Victoria has pointed out, the Pan Am Youth Chess Championship starts on July 24, 2014 so anything that makes that less of a conflict will probably boost attendance at the CYCC.