Yuanling Yuan (born 3 June 1994) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player and entrepreneur. She was awarded the title of

Woman International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(WIM) by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

in 2009. Yuan competed in the

Women's World Chess Championship The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's ...

in 2015 and represented Canada five times at the

Women's Chess Olympiad The Women's Chess Olympiad is an event held by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) since 1957 (every two years since 1972), where national women's teams compete at chess for gold, silver and bronze medals. Since 1976 the Women's Chess Olympia ...

(

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Biography

Born in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, Yuanling Yuan moved to Canada with her family when she was five years old. While in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

she was playing for the RA Chess Club, but when she moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

she joined the Scarborough Chess Club. She attended

Victoria Park Collegiate Institute Victoria Park Collegiate Institute (commonly known as Victoria Park C.I., Victoria Park, Vic Park, VP, and VPCI); formerly Victoria Park Secondary School, is a collegiate institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located south of York Mills Ro ...

from 2008 to 2012,''Scarborough teen is chess queen''
/ref> completing the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

program in high school. In July 2015, Yuan shared her experience of founding a non-profit organisation "Chess in the Library" at the IB Conference of the Americas in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 2016, Yuanling graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

with a B.A. in economics. In 2003 Yuan became Canadian Master after winning the Canadian girls' under-10 title. In 2007, as a seventh grader, she became the high school champion of both Toronto and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, as well as the junior champion of Toronto. She ended 2008 as the top rated Canadian female competitor after placing second behind Cuban Zirka Frometa Castillo at the Pan-American Women's Championship in

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

. She was the highest rated Canadian female player between 2008 and 2015. As member of the Canadian national women's team she played the

38th Chess Olympiad The 38th Chess Olympiad (), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from 12 to 25 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany. There were 146 teams ...

, 2008, in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

on second board (6½ points out of 10 games), the

39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from September 19 to October 4, 201 ...

, 2010, in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

on first board (7½ points out of 11 games) and the

41st Chess Olympiad The 41st Chess Olympiad (), organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess even ...

, 2014 in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

on first board (7½ points out of 11 games). Yuanling Yuan 2014 World Chess Olympiad Norway

In October 2009 Yuan was awarded the title of Woman International Master (WIM) by

, and was the youngest Canadian in history to gain this title, until

Qiyu Zhou Qiyu Zhou ( zh, 周齐宇; born January 6, 2000), also known as Nemo Zhou and her online alias akaNemsko, is a Chinese-born Canadian and Finnish chess player who holds the titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and FIDE Master (FM), and is a live str ...

became WIM at the same age in 2015. She achieved the required

norm Norm, the Norm or NORM may refer to: In academic disciplines * Normativity, phenomenon of designating things as good or bad * Norm (geology), an estimate of the idealised mineral content of a rock * Norm (philosophy), a standard in normative e ...

s at the Pan-American Women's Championship in May 2008 as well as six weeks later at a tournament in

. In March 2015, Yuan competed in the

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first Women's professional wrestling world championship in the world. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she ...

. In the first round, she won against

Mariya Muzychuk Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk (; born 21 September 1992) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion from April 2015 to March 2016. She is also a twice women's champion of Ukraine (2012, 2013), World Team and European Team ch ...

, the 8th seed player and eventual winner, in the first game. Yuan lost the second and went on losing the tiebreakers, therefore exiting the tournament.

Chess in the Library

In 2009, she founded the program ''Chess in the Library''. This volunteer organization draws interest to chess in public libraries, including the opportunity to play and organize chess in libraries. The organization has more than 28 member libraries in Ontario,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Entrepreneurship

In 2014, Yuan founded the start-up SubLite LLC, a platform that assists with college students finding housing and internships. The start-up was backed by both the Yale Entrepreneurship Institute and the Wharton Innovation Fund.SubLite aims to centralize summer resources
/ref>

References

External links

* * * *
Blog of Chess in the Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Yuanling 1994 births Living people Chess Olympiad competitors Chess Woman International Masters Canadian female chess players 21st-century Canadian chess players Canadian chess players Chess players from Shanghai Chinese emigrants to Canada Businesspeople from Shanghai Canadian sportspeople of Chinese descent Chess players from Toronto 21st-century Canadian sportswomen