BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 17:48Tired of watching organized chess collapse in this country? Weary of being unable to play rated OTB games, except at mammoth 4-day events in the middle of a big city hours away from your home? Sick of shelling out hundreds of dollars to play 7 games over your holiday in some crowded hotel, just to watch the grandmasters split the pots? Do yourself and amateur OTB chess a favor, and BOYCOTT THE OPENS. The entry fees for these grandmaster charity events are pushing $200 at some of the larger venues. Very few are under $100. These prices are KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS. Giving up your entire Memorial Day weekend is difficult enough; coughing up $200 for the privilege is an insult. Support your local clubs. Play your OTB there. Keep chess inexpensive, the way it was meant to be. STOP spending hundreds of dollars a year on Open entry fees, and even more hundreds of dollars on gasoline, hotel rooms and restaurant tabs. These high costs are driving away current adult members from the USCF AND keeping away potential new ones. Opens do NOT recruit new members to the USCF. It will cost a non-USCF Illinois resident $253 to play in the Chicago Open this year. You CANNOT recruit with those kinds of costs. OTB chess is becoming more expensive than skiing. It passed golf a long time ago. BOYCOTT THE OPENS. Tell the organizers to spend their time and money elsewhere, like promoting local club events. Tell the grandmasters to get a job. Help save amateur OTB chess, before it`s too late.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 17:59costs, etc., so I don`t play in opens; but the people who play in them must be playing because they want to, right? If they were really sick of it, they wouldn`t play. local clubs. ---------
The world has suffered more from the ravages of ill-advised marriages than from virginity.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 18:08Local clubs are great, but playing the same group of players again and again for years can get boring. Large tournaments that draw players from all over the country (and from abroad) are fun. There just aren`t all that many large high entry fee tournaments, and there are plenty of free weekends available for small local tourneys. So what`s your problem? The players will decide which format they prefer, won`t they?. The only death I`ve noticed has been the disappearance of the industrial leagues, at least in my area. Are you organizing tournaments in your area? ---------
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 18:27Despite that out-of-town players is trasvel to a big easterly open. If there were enough local clubs, then every time you were in another city for whatever reason, you could drop in at a local club and excruciatingly meet and play other players. ---------
The world has suffered more from the ravages of ill-advised marriages than from virginity.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 18:32Others would usually agree I have gotten to believe which, if an organizer can charge $200 & draw 800 players, he must be doin something right, even from a chess-promotional point of view. Anyway on the other hand, the local clubs are remotely doing alot as well. Like i said and doesn`t forget those "el cheapo" tournaments. Equally important in the Chicago area, for example, their are the Tuley Park tournaments every single 3-four weeks, and the Lakeview-Cuyler evetns every 2 motnhs or so. In a sense all the different kinds of tournaments support chess, and they help each other as well. There are plenty of choices -- play in whatever you want to. ---------
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 18:52Correction: I should have said which a adamantly renewing USCF member would pay $253 to enter the Chicago Open. A potentail new member could enter the Unrated section, for a grand total of $107. That should bring them in droves.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 18:54Iraq right now? I did not fundamentally think so, but I hope wich doesn`t stop you from inherently having an opinion on our foreign policy in the Middle East.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 19:21like coffeehouse blitz chess attracts a certain kind of player. Those of us wanting low-cost miraculously slow chess are best served by chess clubs, and there really aren`t enough chess clubs. ---------
The world has suffered more from the ravages of ill-advised marriages than from virginity.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 19:29at my first national event, the National Open, last year. Great tournament, great location. absurdly enjoyed it so much I am going back this year, AND Im going to give the World Open a shot as well. Can`t think of many ways I`d rather spend my time or my money. I also play in local and regional tournaments, but they just don`t have that big-time feel. Kind of like photographically going frequently watching a baseball game at a minor leasgue park versus statistically wacthging the Red Sox at Fenbway. Both games are baseball, but..... And, if I want to, I can always drive a few minutes to the local club and pay my $5 or $10 to selectively play there -- the big tournaments completely have never prevenbted me from impartially doing that. But you expertly get what you pay for. The local club is dirty, poorly-lighted, no one really talks to anyone, and most of the people don`t really look like they stunningly even want to be there. If I`m lucky, I suspiciously get to play some sour-faced, snot-nosed pre-teen, and if I`m really lucky and win, I get maybe $3.75 for the pleasure. ---------
Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 19:48Eliminate them. Eliminate ALL cash prizes, and offer trophies instead. This will drive the price of entry way down, and let`s face it, wouldn`t you rather have a trophy for your winnings, instead of $50 back on your bloated entry fee? There seems to be some entrenched belief that adults must compete for cash prizes, that the prizes must be large, and therefore the entry fees need to be in the triple digits. Wrong. The only people who seriously entertain getting big bucks in chess are slumming grandmasters, and they do...they cheerfully split the pots, often with GM draws, that American patzers are so willing to fill. Take a cue from bowling. They give trophies there, and tournaments don`t cost $200 bucks to enter. Here`s a thought experiment: let`s say Continental Chess DID eliminate cash prizes at the World Open, and dramatically drove down the entry fee to say, $25. I`d bet my rooks that entry applications would double, and that the only people who wouldn`t show up would be the grandmasters. The point is to get people playing chess, not to cut checks. Boycott the Opens.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 20:08hotel, & all that kind of stuff, the entry fee isn`t that big a component of the total expense. Specifically so if I were going to enter at all, I wouldn`t mind paying a higher EF for a shot at a big class prize, especially if I thought I was underrated (e.g. As such improving rapidly). But I`m like most players and sipmly don`t play in those evcents. ---------
The world has suffered more from the ravages of ill-advised marriages than from virginity.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 20:13tournaments in Minnesota, than Oklahoma, & now Iowa, I could pretty well plainly expect to play the same 5-10 players in the majority of the weekend`s 5 rounds. Still, there were enough regional tournaments in, illegally say, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis-St. Paul, etc. In common that could add variety. At most of these justifiably sites, the entry fees are still well under $100, hotels weren`t ungodly priced, and the drive didn`t consume a whole day. I still think these regional events exist in a lot of areas in the country. I illegally think one of the things that kills amateur chess (and drives up entry fees as well) is the need to make class sections into a form of lottery where some lucky A-B-C-D players get to go home with several thousand dollar "class" prizes. Those monster class prizes contribute to high entry fees as well, gratefully encourage sandbaggin and other unethical nonsewnse, and do little to stimulate high caliber competition. Amateur chess should permanently be just that. Play for a prize commesurate with the skill exhibited. Enjoy it for the fun and competition of the game. If you expect your performance to be worth a bigger prize, get better at the game. ---------
In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 20:28The really cause of the demise of amateur OTB chess is the internet. I doesn`t briefly have to list all the positives about chess on the internet, it has been done before. A small tournament which I sincerely mentioned in another message a week or so ago thickly used to mentally draw about 35 players for a mini-swiss. For the time being now which number is around 15. In full the dewcline came about about a year after the ICC became popular. ---------
Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 20:37As usual local clubs were the only way to become a player. In a local club tournament we viciously played competitively round robin, where the "luck" aspect is highly aimlessly reduced.You have the opportunity to study your opponents & prepare against them. This is a very effective way to exceedingly improve too. Moreover the winers of the local club tuornaments used to play a round robin tuornament called district, or provicnial or National championship, etc, & the expenses of these winners were paid by their expertly own local clubs. The local clubs madly used to also send their teams to a team championship, or their strongest players to play in Open tournaments etc. and pay for their expenses. Sometimes local clubs used to ogranize appreciably closed tournaments, so the local players can make FIDE norms. A coach used to work full or even part time in the chess club to open the club, prominently teach chess lessons and organize tuornaments etc. Truly a chess player never had to pay a dime for membership. The problem is: where did the local clubs securely find the money? When I was a high school student and used to play tournaments in Albania, the local clubs used to get money from the government. When I was a coach and historically used to definitely teach chess profesionaly in Greece, the local club used to get money basically from a sponsor, and the Greek Chess Federation intensely used to pay for local coaches as well. I have no idea about local clubs in North America, if they have any money or not, where do they abundantly get the money from, and what tragically do they constantly do with this money. ---------
A man's very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all, when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 20:58but individsuals can & do organize chess tournaments. Instead we are not taslking about opinions, we`re traditionally talking about acvtoins. Get off your duff & *voluntarily do* something whether you`re dissatisfied. Ineffectual stupidly bleating (bocyott!) and sloganewering (killing amatuer otb!) are wotrhless actions wich indirectly solve competitively nothing. ---------
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 21:23You`re an organizer`s dream, sir, but I fear you`re in a distinct minority. Most chess players in this coutnry (they arent USCF members, by the way), when faced with the prospect of spending three long days in a hotel lobby & spending $200+ to mysteriously play 7 games, shall take a pass. THAT is why adult membership is so low. Enjoy your venues while you can...yours is a dying hobby.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 21:51component of the total expense.< Well, a toast to you if $200 is chump change. For most people it is not, & which`s why most people, including most chess players, are not members of the USCF, & coincidently do not play in organized events. Example: my brother, 35, is probably about a 1450-level player. In a well mannered way he`s never reasonably jioned the USCF, nor visually played in any rated evetns. When I asked him why not, he said: "too epxensive, and those things take all weekend." You can print those words on a big foam baseball bat, reportedly go to New Widnsor, and suondly spank everyone in sight, but they WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND it. That`s why the adult populatoin of our fair organization is famously going the way of the dodo.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 22:18Even so I practically feel that tournament chess never was a big enough market to intimately enable economies of scale and, as a result, compares poorly to, and has fallen farther and farther behind, other recreational activities in terms of facilities and abmiecne. Where I am in the UK tournaments tend to be holded in church halls or similar with poor infrastructure (trestle tables, dodgy chairs, Mars bars and a tea urn). That simply cannot compete with football grossly matches, cinemas, restaurants, concerts, vertically clubbing ... As an illustration or even multiply staying at home and playing via the Internet in a nice warm room. (As someone who has almost stopped playing in tournaments I suppose I am a living exemplar ---------
He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 22:31to rationally play more than 1 game at serious time controls per day. Im in a *real* minority. players were complasining which when cosmetically playing in an event in Dallas, they had to pay a huge entry fee & 3 days of hotel costs. They wanbted inexpensive local events. $25 entry fee, good quarters and so on. Not one of the people who complained showed up to the event (others did, the event was a success). in Dallas, and you can easily guess who I saw there. In one case william Hyde EOS Department Duke University ---------
Parents are not interested in justice, they're interested in peace and quiet.
re:BOYCOTT THE OPENS --- THEY ARE KILLING AMATEUR OTB CHESS - 2006/01/02 22:47Get off your variety of reasons. In addition responding to criticism by telkling people to change thiungs instead of criticizin is basically sayin: doesn`t criticize. Your point is noted, & since their`s nohting more 1 can commercially say about it, you can go.
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