English Chess Forum

If a 9 day tournament has one game each day which begins at 3pm but then on the last day of the tournament (to allow more time to get to the airport) games begin at 9am, are there genuine grounds for complaint? The last one we had, and there have been a great many over the years, is that a player's bio-rhythms were adversely affected and his play was well below par. Since he was staying in the hotel, he could have gone to bed earlier and got up at 8.30 pm, which I don't think is so early.

Is this a legitimate compliant? I know some people aren't morning people, and the last round of a tournament is usually the most crucial but can't you just go to bed earlier, and perhaps do some early morning exercise to make sure you are fresh for play? 9am isn't that early and the stronger players all stay in the hotel, so they can wake after 8am with enough time for breakfast. Some people seem really put out by a change of game time in the final round...is it such a big deal or yet another facile excuse?

I think it can be a big deal for some people, yes.

And its maybe not as simple as "go to bed earlier" if you are a night owl and thus unused to doing that?

MJMcCready wrote:If a 9 day tournament has one game each day which begins at 3pm but then on the last day of the tournament (to allow more time to get to the airport) games begin at 9am, are there genuine grounds for complaint? The last one we had, and there have been a great many over the years, is that a player's bio-rhythms were adversely affected and his play was well below par. Since he was staying in the hotel, he could have gone to bed earlier and got up at 8.30 pm, which I don't think is so early.

Is this a legitimate compliant? I know some people aren't morning people, and the last round of a tournament is usually the most crucial but can't you just go to bed earlier, and perhaps do some early morning exercise to make sure you are fresh for play? 9am isn't that early and the stronger players all stay in the hotel, so they can wake after 8am with enough time for breakfast. Some people seem really put out by a change of game time in the final round...is it such a big deal or yet another facile excuse?

It's legitimate enough. You get into a routine of playing in the afternoon/evening, then leisurely preparation in the morning and suddenly the start time is six hours earlier and you have to cram in a bit of prep whilst getting an early night. Obviously, it's the same for everyone but players tend to prefer a schedule with as few different start times as possible. Double rounds are worse disruption still.

LawrenceCooper wrote:

MJMcCready wrote:If a 9 day tournament has one game each day which begins at 3pm but then on the last day of the tournament (to allow more time to get to the airport) games begin at 9am, are there genuine grounds for complaint? The last one we had, and there have been a great many over the years, is that a player's bio-rhythms were adversely affected and his play was well below par. Since he was staying in the hotel, he could have gone to bed earlier and got up at 8.30 pm, which I don't think is so early.

Is this a legitimate compliant? I know some people aren't morning people, and the last round of a tournament is usually the most crucial but can't you just go to bed earlier, and perhaps do some early morning exercise to make sure you are fresh for play? 9am isn't that early and the stronger players all stay in the hotel, so they can wake after 8am with enough time for breakfast. Some people seem really put out by a change of game time in the final round...is it such a big deal or yet another facile excuse?

It's legitimate enough. You get into a routine of playing in the afternoon/evening, then leisurely preparation in the morning and suddenly the start time is six hours earlier and you have to cram in a bit of prep whilst getting an early night. Obviously, it's the same for everyone but players tend to prefer a schedule with as few different start times as possible. Double rounds are worse disruption still.

I don't see the complaint as legitimate in that if you don't like the schedule, don't enter the event. But I do agree with Loz that the ideal is to have the round times the same each day (or as close to that as you can). Starting at 9am - 6 hours earlier than normal - seems unreasonably early to me when the other rounds have ben 3pm.

Sean Hewitt wrote: Starting at 9am - 6 hours earlier than normal - seems unreasonably early to me when the other rounds have ben 3pm.

Starting at 9am is unreasonably early under any circumstances. It's compounded when it's the last round if you have to pack up your room and check out. The 4NCL were very wise not to copy the German League in having an early start on the Sunday.

LawrenceCooper wrote:

MJMcCready wrote:If a 9 day tournament has one game each day which begins at 3pm but then on the last day of the tournament (to allow more time to get to the airport) games begin at 9am, are there genuine grounds for complaint? The last one we had, and there have been a great many over the years, is that a player's bio-rhythms were adversely affected and his play was well below par. Since he was staying in the hotel, he could have gone to bed earlier and got up at 8.30 pm, which I don't think is so early.

Is this a legitimate compliant? I know some people aren't morning people, and the last round of a tournament is usually the most crucial but can't you just go to bed earlier, and perhaps do some early morning exercise to make sure you are fresh for play? 9am isn't that early and the stronger players all stay in the hotel, so they can wake after 8am with enough time for breakfast. Some people seem really put out by a change of game time in the final round...is it such a big deal or yet another facile excuse?

It's legitimate enough. You get into a routine of playing in the afternoon/evening, then leisurely preparation in the morning and suddenly the start time is six hours earlier and you have to cram in a bit of prep whilst getting an early night. Obviously, it's the same for everyone but players tend to prefer a schedule with as few different start times as possible. Double rounds are worse disruption still.

Even more ridiculous when the tournament also incorporates a rest day...

Organise a 9am last round, but don't complain when a significant proportion of the games have finished by 9.30!

MJMcCready wrote:Since he was staying in the hotel, he could have gone to bed earlier and got up at 8.30 am, which I don't think is so early.

But what he probably wouldn't have done is gone to sleep earlier. I thought it was well established that if you want to sleep well it's important to go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.

MJMcCready wrote:9am isn't that early

That's a matter of opinion.

I've struggled with it myself too but in recent years we've many GM draws simply because they didn't want to play so early. It's difficult to be sure if some are genuinely put out by a change in time. The use of esoteric terms like 'Bio-rhythms doesn't help'. There were no English speaking arbiters, they seemed quite confused.

This is an interesting discussion and it is true that some people are much better at playing a very early game, dependent on their normal sleep patterns. However, it has nothing whatever to do with biorhythms.

Biorythm cycles last for several weeks and if you believe in that sort of thing then you might be able to take them into account when deciding which tournaments to enter. Whetther or not the timing of the rounds suits you though is another matter altogether! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm

Well, that's what I thought. It seemed like the gentleman in question was using it as an excuse for his loss.

You've got to have something to blame !

And it is a fairly plausible reason for a lot of people. More the 9am thing than the sudden change of course

If you look at the schedule for British one round per day tournaments, you will find they nearly all start at the same time every round. It is only these foreign chappies who do things differently. I think it is appalling to start the last round several hours earlier than all others.
It shows a total lack of understanding of the players, or a total disrespect for their comfort. It also results in some abysmal last round games.
Oh, the round starts at 2pm normally. Let's make it 1pm for the last round. That seems a minor enough change. It is quite likely that one or two people won't notice the change in schedule and forfeit in error.
Whether people's biorythms are such that they prefer an afternoon start, or that is what their body has become attuned to, is quite a different matter.
For myself, I was never comfortable when having to start work at about 9am (until I was 40). When I came to my sense and became a professional poker player, it all became so much easier. Then I could finish play at 3-4am and get up at 11am. Bliss. Even today, if you look at the time of many of my postings, they are very late at night. In the summer, or in warmer countries, I try to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. But it is very difficult.

In my next tournament, the morning round starts at 0830.

Stewart Reuben wrote:If you look at the schedule for British one round per day tournaments, you will find they nearly all start at the same time every round. It is only these foreign chappies who do things differently. I think it is appalling to start the last round several hours earlier than all others.
It shows a total lack of understanding of the players, or a total disrespect for their comfort.

A few years ago I provided feedback to an organiser of IM and GM norm tournaments, one of which I'd just played in. I said he shouldn't start the last round at 9 am when some players would be playing for their norm. He should stick to 2 pm. His response was:

"I personally have a lot of sympathy for such an idea. But I know a lot of players will react strongly against it, nine days already is a long period away from work, family etc for many of them. This time for example several Germans had to start their games earlier than nine am to reach back in time for a new tournament starting on Saturday.... We have tried to start later on some earlier years, but this has always resulted in complaints, a lot of players asking to start earlier on etc. Also if doing so I would undermine the bus transportation back, as half of the players would leave in the evening and the rest of them the next day. Hence I doubt I will follow this suggestion."