English Chess Forum

Adam Raoof wrote: http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/NZChamp123/

That was certainly a nice tournament, but the one thing it didn't do very well was determine a NZ Champion.

NickFaulks wrote:

Adam Raoof wrote: http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/NZChamp123/

That was certainly a nice tournament, but the one thing it didn't do very well was determine a NZ Champion.

Why do you say that?

Adam Raoof wrote:The national championships seems to work well as an Open in other countries

That's at the cost of a certain amount of randomness in determining the national champion. Swiss systems are only reliable at identifying the best and worst players, minor placings being a lottery based on who you play.

I believe the French system is that they have a couple of all play alls at the top, supported by Swiss system tournaments with both minimum and maximum ratings.

You could have a British Open Championship, run under the auspices of the ECF which is open to all comers with a decent prize fund and the title of British Open Champion to the highest eligible; thereafter a certain number of qualifiers join the top 6 English, top 2 Scottish & Irish, top Welsh players is a closed 9 round open with only a maximum 20 players for the Full British Champion title (with possible parallel equivalents for Women & Seniors)

As an aside, I notice that this year's Irish Championships run concurrently with the British!

I voted for Swiss Open. Nothing which cannot be fixed by fees, & accelerated pairings to secure GM or IM norms & working in other countries.

It is not as if top players are playing - many prefer the seniors probably because of the shorter time period.

Hopefully ECF are asking them the questions.

I think this is a useful addition though point out that this poll closes after the consultation date from ECF.

As a matter of interest, how much would those voting for an APA format be willing to pay to watch online?

Mike Truran wrote:

Havent a clue what options there are for funding or how much it will most likely cost. Happy to make suggestions if i know the latter.

The prize fund for December's British Knockout Championship (presumably a less onerous event than an APA British Championship for most of the players) was £50,000.

A more relevant question than what it actually was is what is the minimum it could have been to entice the players to take part - a lot less than £50K I suspect.

Mike Truran wrote:As a matter of interest, how much would those voting for an APA format be willing to pay to watch online?

If the big names were in it, I'd pay £1 per round. There would be an element of philanthropy about that, particularly as so much top class live chess can be watched for nothing.

I wouldn't bother with the sort of chatty commentary you get nowadays.

I suppose someone already has asked the person with the 50k to donate why they don't sponsor the British.

Their opinion probably more relevant than whether the broadcast rights could raise 100 quid.

I did indeed get the arithmetic wrong, posting whilst half asleep. Sorry about that.

However, the other point still stands. How many of those no longer playing in the British would turn up to play a lower section?

You will probably get the right winner with a Swiss, but if you include female and junior titles within the same section you might not, especially if the winners of those titles are round about the 50 % mark.

From a chess point of view, an APA is best, but obviously finances are going to be a problem. A Swiss with about 40-80 players is probably a good compromise as Jonathan suggests. As I have mentioned before, when I last qualified for the British (20 years ago), I was rated over 2200 and ranked about 65 out of 80. Now I'm only just over 2000, I would be nearer the middle these days. It does seem a bit daft.

Paul Cooksey wrote:I suppose someone already has asked the person with the 50k to donate why they don't sponsor the British.

Their opinion probably more relevant than whether the broadcast rights could raise 100 quid.

I can confirm that the question has been asked.

I must leave it there, I'm afraid.

On paying for any online live coverage whatever the format I would not so the simple reason that I would be working, on holiday or not able to see it.

Generally in playing it is difficult to justify to my better half in spending the time in the hotel whilst I play chess. She would rather we go on holiday.