ECF National Counties Rapidplay and Handicap Rapidplay

[Ian Thompson]

Darn it, you are all so sensible.

OK, have it in a decent hotel, with participants staying the night (Saturday) before the event (=good venue), and a relatively early start (=early finish) so players can get back to [insert home address]?

Five rounds, that would be enough.

Before organising an event in this format it might be worth finding out why the 4NCL rapidplay wasn't very popular, attracting only 10 teams in its second, and final, year.

[Mike Truran]

I recollect that from the feedback we got there were two main reasons:

1. It was held at a bad time of year. We held it in June as an intended curtain raiser to the 4NCL itself, but in practice it seemed that during the summer months people were on holiday, took a break from chess etc.

2. In an already crowded chess calendar people just didn't have the appetite for another event which took up a whole weekend.

We have a captains meeting at this coming 4NCL weekend, so maybe I'll ask the question as to what interest there would be in such an event if it were held during the 4NCL season itself and now that the 4NCL occupies five rather than ten weekends of the year.

[LozCooper]

I recollect that from the feedback we got there were two main reasons:

1. It was held at a bad time of year. We held it in June as an intended curtain raiser to the 4NCL itself, but in practice it seemed that during the summer months people were on holiday, took a break from chess etc.

2. In an already crowded chess calendar people just didn't have the appetite for another event which took up a whole weekend.

We have a captains meeting at this coming 4NCL weekend, so maybe I'll ask the question as to what interest there would be in such an event if it were held during the 4NCL season itself and now that the 4NCL occupies five rather than ten weekends of the year.

I couldn't understand why it wasn't a success, everyone that played seemed to enjoy the event. At the time, with the main 4NCLs being solely in Wokefield Park and Sunningdale it was the only realistic opportunity for teams from the North to play in a 4NCL event as was seen at the 2008 event where 3Cs entered a team. From memory the first year was well supported but entries did drop in the second year. I think it could be a successful event but it may need a different slot in the calendar.

[Roger de Coverly]

Before organising an event in this format it might be worth finding out why the 4NCL rapidplay wasn't very popular, attracting only 10 teams in its second, and final, year.

There have been three types of weekend rapidplay team events in recent years, none of which have attracted much support. These being the Clubs event, the Counties event and the 4NCL event.

It may just be a limited market, since there are players who only play rapidplay tournaments once or twice a year or not at all and are quite happy to stick at that. Others who play more frequently may well prefer individual events on the lines of Hendon or Richmond.

[Mick Norris]

The Bolton league stages a one day Rapidplay jamboree each year, teams of 4, and entries for that have declined over the last few years - we had Keith Arkell in the Bury team one year, and Jeff Horner and Mike Surtees are regulars for Bolton, but 3Cs seem to have lost appetite for it - it might be OK for juniors, but older players seem less interested

[Ian Kingston]

I can only speak for myself, but personally I don't get very much out of rapidplay. And one of the reasons why I like playing in the 4NCL is the fact that I can play games that are as far removed as possible from the semi-rapidplay of evening leagues. Maybe other 4NCL players have similar preferences and are therefore a biased sample.

Ironically, for the first time ever my rapidplay grade has just risen above my standard play grade.

[Adam Raoof]

I see that one problem is that County (and, for that matter, 4NCL) matches will attract a different profile of chess player to a one-day rapidplay. But that doesn't mean that we should be shy of trying to promote the Counties to a wider audience with a variety of events.

Perhaps one way of marketing a Counties event is to ensure that you have the nominal Captains of each county team fixed before promoting the event, so that their contact details can be included on the website and entry form. Instead of sending your entry to a central point, e.g. the organiser, you would work out what county you could represent and contact the Captain for that team. You could also devolve the collection of payment to the Captain of that team.

That way the event can be marketed to players whose primary interest is rapidplay, and who may not even belong to a club, but still maintain the kudos of county-level chess. It might bring in players who would not ordinarily play county chess matches, or rapidplay tournaments.

I would like to see these one-day events run in 2010, but I also recognise the obstacles brought up on this Forum. I think that with a little ambition and creativity we can re-create these events successfully.

[Alex Holowczak]

I think it's just a fact that older players prefer longer games, and younger players prefer shorter games. So the people that a national rapidplay event will appeal to are the young. Unfortunately, the young aren't going to be able to travel nationally as easily as older players. So you have a tournament appealing to a target audience who'll find it difficult to enter. I imagine most older players only play in rapidplays that are local, whereas they may travel the country in search of FIDE-rated, or longer chess.

Interestingly, I know some young players who aren't too keen on 4NCL for precisely that reason, they can't be bothered with 7-hour games.

I think this is just another variation of the adjournments argument!

[John Philpott]

I am not convinced that this is purely a question of standardplay v rapidplay. As a County captain I have found it relatively easy, at least in the grading limit divisions, to get members of my squad to turn out for matches in the Union and National stages, despite the distances that can be involved in the latter. However, it has always been much harder to get this same pool of individuals to provide a team for a one off event, be it standardplay (the SCCU jamborees and the Capes trophy come to mind) or rapidplay, even if this is taking place close to home.

The quality of any one-off event is, of course, of significance, but it is also important that it takes place at the same time each year so that it gets established as an event in the calendar that players expect to get asked to play in.

[Michele Clack]

What about playing the early rounds over the internet to get a good geographical spread of teams. The finals could be over a weekend at a good venue like 4ncl. It could then double up as an advert for over the board chess online.

[Roger de Coverly]

What about playing the early rounds over the internet to get a good geographical spread of teams.

You get major problems of supervision of course with "serious" internet play. You need an observer for each board to validate that it's player v player and not Rybka v Fritz. I don't think counties (and players) are that interested in team rapidplay to want to set this up.

[Joey Stewart]

I will be up for it if you organise one I would get a warwickshire team together (even if I have to drag my players to the venue kicking and screaming ....)

Cyril Johnson did a club rapldplay last year which worked very well by having a late start, short games, and only small breaks between rounds meaning that we had played our 5 matches in the space of about 3 hours, allowing for plenty of time to travel home and still have a nice saturday evening to spare...