Chess Canada CFC Newsletter

09/23/2026

WIM Svitlana Demchenko
Rd.7 vs Hungary

MJO won with Black against an IM on board 1 to lead Canada to a draw with +450 higher-rated Hungary.

09/20/2026

09/16/2026

46th FIDE Chess Olympiad

Sept 16-27, 2026
Samarkand, UZB

11-round, 4v4 national team tournaments in Open and Women's sections.

Canada has teams in both sections:

Open #41
Captain: Evgeny Bareev
1 GM Rodrigue-Lemieux, Shawn 2536
2 GM Atanasov, Anthony 2481
3 GM Preotu, Razvan 2475
4 IM Noritsyn, Nikolay 2444
5 IM Sai Krishna G V 2451

Women #38
Captain: Raja Panjwani
1 WGM Ouellet, Maili-Jade 2260
2 WIM Li, Yunshan 2228
3 WIM Demchenko, Svitlana 2166
4 WFM Golubeva, Oksana 2086
5 WFM Jiang, Hanxi (Hancy) 1908

Top-Ranked teams are:
Open: USA, India, Uzbekistan, China, Germany.
Women: India, Georgia, Kazakhstan, China, USA.

That China is ranked only 4th is strange, since the top four FIDE-rated women in the world are _all_ from China; but only #4 Zhu Jiner will play at the Olympiad, meaning China's women's team is missing the world's top three rated women: world #1 Hou Yifan, world #2 and current Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun, and world #3 Lei Tingjie, all MIA.

Several top players are not competing in the Open, including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Alireza Firouzja.

No one from Putin's country is allowed to compete.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
LINKS

Live Games
games start 3pm local, 6am EST.

FIDE commentary (Svidler & Chirilla & interviews)
https://www.twitch.tv/fide_chess

lichess
https://lichess.org/@/lichess/blog/2026-samarkand-olympiad-preview/anaRyt7r

chess.com
https://www.chess.com/events/2026-fide-chess-olympiad-open/games

---------------------------------------------------------
Canadian Team pairings:
Women
https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1469896.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0

Open
https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1469895.aspx?lan=1&art=20&fed=CAN&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0

homepage
https://chessolympiad2026.fide.com/

photos

FIDE Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/fide_chess/

FIDE facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ChessFIDE/

Videos
Sagar Shah tours the venues
https://youtu.be/ikgXSGP8-OQ?si=FSZtxNiIXc_38Jco

08/19/2026

Lakeshore Women's Open Championship
August 15-16, 2026
Dorval, QC

7 round, 15+10 rapid
with a guaranteed prize fund of over $3,500 it offered largest prizes ever women's chess tournament in Canada.

The top titled players were Canadians -- WGM Maili-Jade Ouellet, WIM Svitlana Demchenko, & WFM Yi Lin Li -- but it attracted players from Brazil, Russia, Columbia, Peru & USA

Svitlana won with 6.5/7, drawing in round 4 with MJ, who was held to a draw by Yi Lin in round 5. Daiane Hornes from Brazil was 3rd with 5/7.

homepage:
https://chessyoga.com/2026/07/31/lakeshore-womens-championship-2026/

Results:
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1475768.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES&SNode=S0

pixels:
IA Danny Goldenberg & chessyoga

08/08/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Daniel for winning 1st Place at the 2026 Pan American Youth Chess Festival - U14 Open! Daniel scored 7.5 pts./9 games; and with this championship win, Daniel wins the FM Title!

"JtM Chess Academy celebrates with Daniel the prestigious FIDE Master title he achieved by winning the U14 section of the 2026 Pan American Youth Chess Festival. Daniel’s meteoric rise in the past two years (gaining almost 600 rating points from August 2024!) is a combined result of his talent, hard work, serious pre-game preparation and constant pursue of his goals – not to forget valuable international experience. Daniel is still young and has potential to climb even higher. Way to go, FM Daniel Joshua Lee!"
- GM Gergely Szabo

📷 Photo credit: 2026 Pan American Chess Festival Organizers

08/08/2026

🎉 ♟️ Congratulations to Anni for winning 1st Place (after tiebreaks) at the 2026 Pan American Youth Chess Festival - U18 Girls! Anni was undefeated, scoring 7 pts./9 games; and with this championship win, Anni wins the WIM Title!

"JtM Chess Academy celebrates with Anni the amazing milestone she has reached by winning the U18 Girls section of the Pan-Am Youth Chess Festival. Her talent was beyond questioning even from an early stage, although her other interests outside chess delayed reaching her full potential. Still, her great work ethic and previous international experience proved helpful in finishing first; Anni’s well-deserved prize was the Woman International Master title. If she feels motivated enough for the next step, the Woman Grandmaster title is definitely within the realm of possibilities for Anni. Congratulations, WIM Anni Guo!"
- GM Gergely Szabo

📷 Photo credit: Lei Guo
!"