- Chess World Cup
- FIDE Grand Prix
- Olympiad
- World Championship
- List of strong tournaments
- List of world championships
- Checkmate patterns
- Chess openings
- Chess strategy
- Chess tactics
- Chess theory
- Endgames
- Pawn structure
- Problems/Compositions
Qiyu Zhou at the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa
|
|
| Country | Finland Canada |
|---|---|
| Title | Woman International Master |
| Ranking | No. 1 ranked woman in Canada |
Qiyu Zhou (born 2000) is a Canadian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM), one of the youngest to achieve this in Canada at the age of 15. She won the gold medal in the U-14 girls section at the 2014 World Youth Chess Championship.
Other notable achievements include winning a silver medal at the World Youth Chess Championships in 2008, held in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam, and a gold medal (U-18 Girls) in the North American Chess Festival held in Toluca, Mexico in 2015. She has also won two gold medals in the Canadian Youth Chess Championships, and two gold medals in the Canadian Chess Challenge (Gr. 7 and 8). While representing Finland, Qiyu has also won the 2010 Nordic School Chess Championship in the U-10 Open, held in Västerås Sweden. She also finished first at the Finnish Women Chess Championship in 2010 in Helsinki, and has five gold medals in the Finnish Youth Chess Championships. She won her first gold medal at the age of 5 in U-10 Open section Finnish Youth Chess Championship in Oulainen, Finland.
When Qiyu was four, she went to a local chess club, thus starting her chess career in Antibes, France. It was suggested that she participate in local tournaments, and she got third place at the Nice Youth Chess Championships (U-8) in April, 2004. After another month, she won third place at Hyères, in the Southern French Youth Chess Championships in May, 2004. In late 2004, she moved to Finland.
Qiyu Zhou has won the Finnish Youth Chess Championships 5 times (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010) in the U10- Open sections.
Qiyu Zhou has played the Nordic School Chess championships 6 times (in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) in the U-10 sections. Qiyu won the 2010 Nordic School Chess Championship in the U-10 Open, held in Sweden
Qiyu Zhou has played the Canadian Youth Chess championships 4 times (in the years 2011,2012,2013,2014) in the U-12 and U-14 sections. Qiyu won the 2012 and 2013 Canadian Youth Chess Championship in the Girl U-12 (Surrey) and Girl U-14 (Ottawa),Canada.
Qiyu Zhou has played the Canadian Chess Challenge 2 times (in the years 2013, 2014) in the G-7 and G-8 sections. Qiyu won the 2013 and 2014 Canadian Chess Challenge in the G-7 and G-8 sections, held in Ottawa,2013 and Winnipeg,2014.
Representing Canada, Qiyu came second in 2013 in the U-14 Girls’ category in Toronto, Canada, second in 2014 in the U-18 Girls’ category in Tarrytown, USA, and first in 2015 in the U-18 Girls’ category in Toluca, Mexico.
Qiyu Zhou has played 9 World Youth Chess Championships in total. She has represented Finland at the World Youth Chess Championships 6 times (2005 in Belfort, France; 2007 in Antalya, Turkey; 2008 in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam; 2009 in Antalya, Turkey; 2010 in Porto Carras, Greece. She also represented Canada after switching federations in late 2010, by playing in Caldas Novas, Brazil (2011), Maribor, Slovenia (2012), Al-Ain, UAE (2013) and in Durban, South Africa (2014). Her most notable achievements at the WYCC were a silver medal in 2008 while representing Finland and a gold medal in 2014 while representing Canada.
Qiyu Zhou has represented Canada at the 41st Chess Olympiad in 2014, in Tromsø, Norway. She scored 6.5/9 playing on the fourth board.
Qiyu Zhou has represented Canada at the Hungary World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad (2014), playing on the fourth board as well. The team finished 5th place.
In 2015, Qiyu was invited to play in Cappelle la Grande, one of the largest open tournaments in the chess world. She also followed up by being invited to Reykjavik Open 2015.
Apart from chess, Qiyu has also been interviewed by Finnish TV and Kaleva, and in Canada by New Tang Dynasty (NTD) and ctvnews . She has also appeared as a chess player in an unaired (airing in January, 2016) episode by TVOntario.