WHO'S GOING TO TORQUAY?

[Lara Barnes]

The live webcam for the commentary will be professionally hard wired, as will the DGT boards, the rest is free wifi for all!

[Carl Hibbard]

The live webcam for the commentary will be professionally hard wired, as will the DGT boards, the rest is free wifi for all!

Nice good job, DC will be pleased

[Carl Hibbard]

I may even turn up for a day on the second week so either thank me for the forum or not?

[Lee Bullock]

Lara is their any chance of the lower sections ie u140, u120 having the top boards on the live boards? Especially for the last few rounds anyway/ I see they do it for the juniors some years. Would be great to have it for the top boards of the minor sections and highers ones ie 160s and 180s? Thanks.

[David Grobler]

Lara is their any chance of the lower sections ie u140, u120 having the top boards on the live boards? Especially for the last few rounds anyway/ I see they do it for the juniors some years. Would be great to have it for the top boards of the minor sections and highers ones ie 160s and 180s? Thanks.

I think there would be a lot of interest from the masses in the mornings to watch the top couple of boards in the minor sections....I would be interested in watching all of Lees mistakes live anyway

[Lee Bullock]

Lara is their any chance of the lower sections ie u140, u120 having the top boards on the live boards? Especially for the last few rounds anyway/ I see they do it for the juniors some years. Would be great to have it for the top boards of the minor sections and highers ones ie 160s and 180s? Thanks.

I think there would be a lot of interest from the masses in the mornings to watch the top couple of boards in the minor sections....I would be interested in watching all of Lees mistakes live anyway

Haha, I agree, I think for the 100th championship it would be a great addition to have the top boards live and a reward for doing well etc I would find it quite exciting

[Bill Drennan]

Not me and my friend Joe from Battersea Chess Club. We're going to be playing in a 4-day tournament in Wasselonne near Strasbourg between Thursday and Sunday next week. Come and join us if you would like to play in a chess tournament abroad.

[Lara Barnes]

I certainly hope to have different sections on the live boards in the mornings. Dave Clayton, Matt Carr and new recruit Neville Belinfante will do us proud I am sure.

One more GM to watch in the afternoons, Simon Williams entered today!

[Lee Bullock]

That would be amazing Lara and make it very special for some of the players who never get that chance And I know many people who would love to watch the lower rateds on the live boards rather than the juniors they hardly know

[William Metcalfe]

Do not tar us all with the boring brush please in the last 6 months my hair has had Blue streaks in then Green streaks.I am debating what colour to go next lol

[David Gilbert]

One more GM to watch in the afternoons, Simon Williams entered today!

Not only Simon Williams, but young Yang-Fan too. That’s thirteen GMs and eleven IMs. Across-the-board there’s 103 entries for the main event. Overall figures have climbed to a record 1079. And going higher - in a normal year we could expect another hundred entries arriving during the first week. Restaurant booked for Monday night. Rejoice! For it's Mardi Gras time!

[benedgell]

Best of luck to Keith Arkell, Alan Brusey, David Collier, Stephen Dilleigh, Paul Girdlestone, Simon Greely, Stephen Homer, Dominic Mackle, Lewis Martin, Tyson Mordue, Megan Owens, Jack Rudd, John Stephens, Rob Thompson, Thomas Thorpe, and Michael Yeo, who are all representing the SW in the Championships (apologies if I've missed anyone there).

[Chris Rice]

One more GM to watch in the afternoons, Simon Williams entered today!

Not only Simon Williams, but young Yang-Fan too. That’s thirteen GMs and eleven IMs. Across-the-board there’s 103 entries for the main event. Overall figures have climbed to a record 1079. And going higher - in a normal year we could expect another hundred entries arriving during the first week. Restaurant booked for Monday night. Rejoice! For it's Mardi Gras time!

Is the figure of 1079 (now 1104 I'm told) been calculated by entrants playing in each competition? I'm reliably informed if you take the entrants who are playing in more than one competition then the actual number of players is currently something like 754.

[Roger de Coverly]

Is the figure of 1079 (now 1104 I'm told) been calculated by entrants playing in each competition?

It has been done that way for a number of years. Stewart Reuben claims he changed it so as to make the numbers sound more impressive. That's all very well, but if you don't keep track of the headcount, that's delusional when trying to figure out how much space you need and how much overnight accommodation. That said, a number of competitors will be there with families and others which increases the accommodation required in terms of hotel or similar rooms.

The abolition of adjournments facilitated players who wanted to play both morning and afternoon sessions, but adjournments were abolished over ten years ago, were they not?

[PeterFarr]

Is the figure of 1079 (now 1104 I'm told) been calculated by entrants playing in each competition?

It has been done that way for a number of years. Stewart Reuben claims he changed it so as to make the numbers sound more impressive. That's all very well, but if you don't keep track of the headcount, that's delusional when trying to figure out how much space you need and how much overnight accommodation. That said, a number of competitors will be there with families and others which increases the accommodation required in terms of hotel or similar rooms.

I don't understand this:- surely counting entrants per individual competition gives you the more accurate tournament space calculation? What counts is how many boards you need at any one time rather than how many discrete individuals are floating around during the fortnight. Am I missing something?

Also, this does reflect the entry fees paid, which is not incidental. So even if the rationale for choosing the higher number is a bit cheeky, it does have some logic to it.

As for accommodation, this is surely not the direct responsibility of the organizers - except in the most general way of choosing a venue within range of a sufficient choice; in this case, Torquay and its environs could swallow much bigger events without much of an issue I would have thought?

Really the only issue arises if you switch between counting methods, although it can't be denied that the number of discrete individuals playing would also be an interesting measure.

Actually, I suppose it would also be of interest to know how many non-playing friends and family stay over too - which perhaps could be gleaned by undertaking a survey - as this might help in negotiations with potential host towns.