Canadian Chess Player of the Year

Researched, compiled, written and copyright 2003-11 by David Cohen. Last updated: 2011.12.12.
Main web site & contact: Canadian Chess.
Plaque Winners 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

Plaque

There is a permanent plaque honouring these members of the Canadian Chess community (and it is looking for a home).

Canadian Chess Player Of The Year Plaque 2010 Canadian Chess Player Of The Year Plaque

Photos: copyright 2011 by the photographer David Cohen.

The award was initially created by the Chess Federation of Canada in 1979, but was immediately discontinued. It was revived in 2003 by David Cohen. Selections are made by Canadian Chess journalists, together with one ballot resulting from a fan poll (starting in 2007). The award is typically presented at the Canadian Open Championship's Opening Ceremony.

Winners

2011 Mark Bluvshtein
2010 Jason Cao
2009 Jean Hébert
2008 Mark Bluvshtein
2007 Nikolay Noritsyn
2006 Kevin Spraggett
2005 Mark Bluvshtein
2004 Mark Bluvshtein
(1st) 2003 Pascal Charbonneau
(1st) 1979 Kevin Spraggett

Fan Ballot

2011 Melissa Giblon
2010 Jason Cao
2009 Shiyam Thavandiran
2008 Shiyam Thavandiran
(1st) 2007 Alexandra Botez

2011

2011 Canadian Chess Player of the Year is Grandmaster Mark Bluvshtein of Toronto, Ontario, the fourth time he has won this honour. The highlight of Bluvshtein's year of international competitions was his tie for first place in the Pan-American Chess Championship in April. Second place in the voting was taken by Grandmaster Bator Sambuev of Montreal, Quebec, who won the Canadian Chess Championship in May, thereby setting a record for the highest ever Chess Federation of Canada rating by a Canadian. Third place was earned by Michael Song of Toronto, Ontario for his Bronze Medal at the World Under-12 Chess Championship in November.

The 9th annual vote was conducted by a poll of Canadian Chess Journalists. One ballot is reserved for voting by chess fans. In the Fan Ballot, the winner is Melissa Giblon of Thornhill, Ontario. Giblon won the Canadian Girls Under 12 Chess Championship with a perfect score in July. Second place went to Nikolay Noritsyn of Richmond Hill, Ontario, winner of the Quebec Open Chess Championship in July. He was followed by Bluvshtein in third place.

Some Canadian Chess players and their accomplishments in 2011:

2010

Some Canadian Chess players and their accomplishments in 2010:

2009

Voting results:

Fan Voting:

1st Shiyam Thavandiran
2nd Jean Hébert
3rd Anton Kovalyov

Journalist + Fan Voting = the Award:

1st Jean Hébert
2nd Richard Wang
3rd Mark Bluvshtein
4th Shiyam Thavandiran
5th Janak Awatramani
6th Anton Kovalyov

Thanks to all who voted!

Some Canadian Chess players and their accomplishments in 2009:

2008

Fan voting for 2008 Canadian Chess Player of the Year closed with the following results:

Shiyam Thavandiran (47%) 914
Eric Hansen (44%) 862
Raja Panjwani (3%) 62
Kelly Wang (1%) 24
Mark Bluvshtein (1%) 19
Yuanling Yuan (1%) 11
Dina Kagramanov (1%) 10
Kevin Spraggett (0%) 9
Irina Barron (0%) 8
Pascal Charbonneau (0%) 7
Christopher Knox (0%) 7
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (0%) 7
Igor Zugic (0%) 7
Anton Kovalyov (0%) 5
Nikolay Noritsyn (0%) 5
Jocelyn Coté (0%) 2
Wayne Hynes (0%) 2
Yelizaveta Orlova (0%) 2
Leonid Gerzhoy (0%) 1
Artem Samsonkin (0%) 1

1,965 votes total

Therefore, a ballot is cast as follows: 1st place, 5 points, Shiyam Thavandiran; 2nd place, 3 points, Eric Hansen; 3rd place, 1 point, Raja Panjwani.

Results of voting from all ballots (fans plus Canadian chess journalists):

Mark Bluvshtein 19
Eric Hansen 18
Yuanling Yuan 8
Shiyam Thavandiran 6
Wayne Hynes 5
Anton Kovalyov 5
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon 5
Igor Zugic 5
Jocelyn Coté 3
Raja Panjwani 1
Kevin Spraggett 1

Thanks to all the fans who voted, and congratulations to 2008 Canadian Chess Player of the Year Mark Bluvshtein!

Notice: The nominees for the fan ballot were chosen by David Cohen, who is responsible for the fan ballot and the award. The nominees do not necessarily consent to be associated with the fan poll or with the award.

Some Canadian Chess players and their accomplishments in 2008:

2007

Nikolay Noritsyn, 16, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, is the 2007 Canadian Chess Player of the Year in a poll of Canadian chess journalists. New this year in the 5th annual poll was the results of fan voting were counted as one ballot.

The purpose of this 5th annual poll of Canadian Chess Journalists is to recognize the achievements of a Canadian chess player in 2007; and to gain some publicity for Canadian chess. A permanent plaque with the names of all of the past winners, is on display at the offices of The Chess Federation of Canada in Ottawa.

Each journalist had up to 3 votes:

1st place vote - 5 points
2nd place vote - 3 points
3rd place vote - 1 point

It was not necessary to vote for 2nd or 3rd place. Responses were received from 6/11 invited journalists, plus the results of fan voting counted for one ballot.

Here are the results of the fan voting:

Alexandra Botez (38%) 45
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (17%) 20
Nikolay Noritsyn (13%) 15
Jean Hébert (8%) 9
Bindi Cheng (6%) 7
Alexander Ugge (5%) 6
Christopher Knox (3%) 4
Kevin Spraggett (3%) 3
Artem Samsonkin (2%) 2
Igor Zugic (2%) 2
Leonid Gerzhoy (1%) 1
Wayne Hynes (1%) 1
Natalia Khoudgarian (1%) 1
Anton Kovalyov (1%) 1
Ron Livshits (0%) 0

117 votes total

Therefore, a ballot is cast as follows: 1st place, 5 points, Alexandra Botez; 2nd place, 3 points, Thomas Roussel-Roozmon; 3rd place, 1 point, Nikolay Noritsyn.

Results of voting from all ballots (fans plus Canadian chess journalists):

Nikolay Noritsyn (Richmond Hill, ON) 21
Alexander Ugge (Keswick, ON) 8
Alexandra Botez (Port Moody, BC) 6
Wayne Hynes (Oshawa, ON) 5
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon (Laval, QC) 4
Jean Hébert (Montreal, QC) 3
Kevin Spraggett (Portugal) 3
Natalia Khoudgarian (Toronto, ON) 1
Tomas Krnan (Burlington, ON) 1

Some Canadian Chess players and their accomplishments in 2007: