9th 4NCL FIDE Rated Congress

[LawrenceCooper]

I don't know what is confusing about it.

A tournament where the when and where are a week and thirty miles apart.

Hence the need to check if the new date is suitable with clashes that didn't exist on the original date.

[Neil Graham]

Do we have an update on entries?

[Mike Truran]

Nine different nationalities so far will be represented at our 9th congress. Of course well short of any record, but very pleasing nonetheless.

So while on the subject...... over the last decade or so, how many different nationalities has the most representative congress in England been able to claim?

[NickFaulks]

Nine different nationalities so far will be represented at our 9th congress. Of course well short of any record, but very pleasing nonetheless.

So while on the subject...... over the last decade or so, how many different nationalities has the most representative congress in England been able to claim?

In last year's London Classic Open I've counted 47.

[Mike Truran]

That's fair enough! Can't argue with that.

Perhaps I should have suggested some restrictions to make it more sporting (not a mega-event like the LCC? Maybe no more than 200 entrants?).

[IM Jack Rudd]

"Not a title-norm event" would probably be an interesting enough restriction; title-norm events need mixes of nationalities in a way that ordinary tournaments don't, so they go out of their way to get them.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Would be interesting to see if any of the mega Opens of the past exceed the 47 nationalities at the LCC Open of 2015 (obviously events like the Olympiads will set the real records). Maybe the most recent Dubai Open, or the Millionaire Chess event, or one of the Aeroflot Opens?

EDIT: Some statistics:

Dubai Open in April 2016 had 37 nationalities.

LCC FIDE Open in December 2015 had 48 nationalities.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Gibraltar this year had 51 nationalities.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Gibraltar this year had 51 nationalities.

Impressive. No-one from Wales, though. Nor from Jersey or Guernsey. Not all the EU countries are there (Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia). Some other non-EU European countries missing as well (mostly the Balkan ones). Room for improvement.

(The participants are from every inhabited continent.)

[Sean Hewitt]

That's fair enough! Can't argue with that.

Perhaps I should have suggested some restrictions to make it more sporting (not a mega-event like the LCC? Maybe no more than 200 entrants?).

The e2e4 Diamond Jubilee Congress at Gatwick had 90 players in the Premier from 21 different nations.

[Mike Truran]

In terms of number of nationalities vs total entries, that is indeed pretty impressive.