Best Congress Format

[Andrew Wainwright]

Hi All

I have recently booked a venue in Yorkshire to host a congress in early December. I was wondering what public opinion is on the best format for a congress?

All of the congresses I have played in during recent years have been 5 round swiss formats with an Open, Major and Minor section (sometimes an intermediate etc). I have a room booked for a Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. I want to do something a bit different so I was thinking of splitting all entrants into groups of 6 (based on grade) and each group playing an all play all over the 5 rounds with the winner of each group winning a prize. The benefits in my opinion of this to the players being;

1. One in every 6 players wins a prize.
2. You know from round one who your opponents will be and what colours you will have in each round.
3. You will play 5 players who are at your level and so you wont play anyone in the early rounds who is massively weaker or stronger than you.

The main disadvantages being:
1. The prize money will be smaller (say £20 entry with the winner in each group of 6 players winning £80)
2. If a player drops out half way through the effect on the group is problematic
3. The format would mean that no players are allowed byes in any rounds.

I would appreciate your thoughts and advice on this topic as it will be the first congress I will be running.

Thanks

Andy

[Richard Cowan]

2. If a player drops out half way through the effect on the group is problematic
3. The format would mean that no players are allowed byes in any rounds.

These will make running the tournament a bit of a headache... For such small numbers of players, 18 is it?
I'd just have one big Open swiss and bigger grading prizes. Easier to run and a bit different from the norm...
Where in Yorkshire is your venue btw? :p

[Andrew Wainwright]

Richard - The venue is in Bradford, easy commute for most Yorkshire players and from the NW. It isn't the Latvian Club where the Bradford Congress is held in September. I can accomodate up to 60 players. As it is the first one I will be doing I will be happy to get 30 players minimum and build from there if it goes well. Thanks for your feedback.

[Roger de Coverly]

I want to do something a bit different so I was thinking of splitting all entrants into groups of 6 (based on grade) and each group playing an all play all over the 5 rounds with the winner of each group winning a prize.

That's the way some congresses were organised forty years ago. That congress design went out of fashion for several reasons:-

- sheer weight of numbers following the Fischer boom.
- the need to improve prize money to support professional and semi professional players and attract publicity.
- the lack of opportunity it gives to improving players to test themselves against higher rated opposition.
- the problems of assigning unrated players to sections.

But if you can only accommodate 60, it's never going to be a big event.

If you had two weekends you could follow a format used elsewhere and run it as a 9 round "get me FIDE rated" event. You'd need 4 internationally rated players in every 10 though.

[Brian Valentine]

Your chance of getting a number of entries exactly divisible by 6 will also be a problem. The Swiss system predominates because it is best by test.

[John Anderson]

When I started playing in Congresses in the late 70s it was the norm to have six rounds (1 Friday, 3 Saturday and two Sunday). I would very much like to see a return to this format, particularly where a tournament is already run over the three days with Saturday evening free. After all, the venue has been hired for the three days so why not make the most of it?

[Andrew Wainwright]

Roger - Interesting to hear that congresses have been played in this format in the past, but became unfashionable. Do you know of any others which still follow a similar format? I agree that due to space restrictions this congress if successful will never be "big" in terms of numbers. If it is "big" in factors such as fun, competitive play and good chess then thats okay with me. As this is teh first time I am dipping my toe into congress organisation I want to start small so FIDE rated is probably not the way I am looking to go at the moment. Sean's e2e4 competitions and the upcoming 4NCL Northern League will plug that gap. Lets see if I can get this off the ground, make it a well respected strong competition, learn a few lessons in the process about running these events and then go from there.

Brian - That had occured to me. If he number of entrants is not a multiple of 6 then the bottom group could be larger and play on a swiss basis. The Swiss system dominates entirely, surely a bit of variety would be good for players. 5 guaranteed games against similar strength players gives everyone a really good chance of winning.

John - I dont have the room Saturday night so I will have to stick to 5 rounds this time. Interesting idea though, thanks.

[Sean Hewitt]

Andrew,

If you want to maintain the benefit of your original idea but also deal with the issue of what to do about byes, withdrawals, non multiples of 6 etc can I suggest

All players enter the event will be divided into sections of 12-18 players with each section played as a 5 round swiss. Each player should then get competitive games but you have all the benefits of a swiss. Players cannot be put off by being at the bottom end of the grade range for a section.

I am thinking of doing something similar myself at an event.

[Roger de Coverly]

Roger - Interesting to hear that congresses have been played in this format in the past, but became unfashionable. Do you know of any others which still follow a similar format?

Paignton has them still - but they run alongside the main Swiss events.

http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/congre ... n/base.htm

Look for the references to "American".



Also from
http://www.essexchess.org.uk/History/Il ... ngress.htm

For many years, when the Congress was held at the Ilford County High School for Girls, Gants Hill, the congress was organised in all-play-all sections of six players. The top section, the Premier, was an invitation event and was always played in a roped-off area in the centre of the main playing hall. Below that, there would be the 'Premier Reserves' sections, perhaps A and B, and the Major sections, at least seven of those - the Webmaster has record of having played in Major 'G' in 1966 - and Junior sections. All were groups of six, all-play-all. The first round was played on the Friday evening, two rounds on Saturday, followed by Round 4 on Sunday and Round 5 on Bank Holiday Monday.

From 1968 the Swiss pairing system was adopted with fewer, larger, tournaments and six rounds instead of five, as we know it today.

[Adam Raoof]

All players enter the event will be divided into sections of 12-18 players with each section played as a 5 round swiss. Each player should then get competitive games but you have all the benefits of a swiss. Players cannot be put off by being at the bottom end of the grade range for a section.

I agree - I think this is what Bourne End do for their annual rapidplay tournament (entry form attached), with much success. I think you should seriously consider this format!

[Jon Mahony]

I quite like the sound of your new format idea Andy, if it comes off I’ll certainly be along to that one.

[Andrew Wainwright]

Sean / Roger / Adam - Thanks for the info and advice. I will have a bit more of a think on this. I probably want to start advertising around Aug/Sept so I can have entry forms at the Bradford Congress.

Jon - Great to hear that you think the suggested format is a good idea. I will keep you posted on my final decision on how to structure the congress.

[Sean Hewitt]

Good luck!!

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Andrew,
It's good to hear of a new congress organiser, especially one that is minded to change the format from the customary Swiss tournament. For some years, there has been a congress along the lines you are considering in Drogheda in Ireland. You'll find details of their latest event here: http://droghedachessclub.wordpress.com/ ... s-results/
Might be worth contacting the organisers for a few tips