FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Details of upcoming UK events, please provide working links if possible.
Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:35 am

The weekday dates for this have been known for some time, but the detail schedule remains withheld information.

This is what a Google search on "London chess classic 2019" discloses.

https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... assic+2019

Alex Holowczak
Posts: 9085
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:18 pm
Location: Oldbury, Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Alex Holowczak » Fri Sep 27, 2019 11:18 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 12:35 am
The weekday dates for this have been known for some time, but the detail schedule remains withheld information.

This is what a Google search on "London chess classic 2019" discloses.

https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... assic+2019
Online entry is going live ASAP, the entry form was finalised earlier this week. The Open will run Friday to Friday, with a Rapid on Saturday and a Blitz on Sunday. It's more or less the same format from 2017.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:18 pm

Alex Holowczak wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 11:18 am
The Open will run Friday to Friday, with a Rapid on Saturday and a Blitz on Sunday. It's more or less the same format from 2017.
Double round day is the first Saturday presumably then.

Chris Rice
Posts: 3416
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:17 am

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Chris Rice » Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:27 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:18 pm
Alex Holowczak wrote:
Fri Sep 27, 2019 11:18 am
The Open will run Friday to Friday, with a Rapid on Saturday and a Blitz on Sunday. It's more or less the same format from 2017.
Double round day is the first Saturday presumably then.
It is. You can now enter the tournament here and the schedule is in the tournament rules here.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:25 am

Chris Rice wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:27 am
It is. You can now enter the tournament here
28th October is a date to be aware of, it's when the entry fee goes up.

The other deadline is the Thursday afternoon before the tournament where contrary to normal UK practice, the organisers are expecting an email to "register" for the FIDE Open or you risk being excluded from first round pairings.

Richard Bates
Posts: 3338
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:27 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Richard Bates » Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:39 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:25 am
Chris Rice wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:27 am
It is. You can now enter the tournament here
28th October is a date to be aware of, it's when the entry fee goes up.

The other deadline is the Thursday afternoon before the tournament where contrary to normal UK practice, the organisers are expecting an email to "register" for the FIDE Open or you risk being excluded from first round pairings.
Normal practice at the London Classic. People should be getting use to it by now. And a pretty reasonable precaution to ensuring people get games on the Friday. Especially with such a large tournament and many people coming from abroad who then don’t turn up for whatever reason (probably usually visa related). And of course it is possible that there could be far more potential players affected by this than in the past.

Alex Holowczak
Posts: 9085
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:18 pm
Location: Oldbury, Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Alex Holowczak » Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:24 pm

Richard Bates wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:39 pm
Roger de Coverly wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:25 am
Chris Rice wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:27 am
It is. You can now enter the tournament here
28th October is a date to be aware of, it's when the entry fee goes up.

The other deadline is the Thursday afternoon before the tournament where contrary to normal UK practice, the organisers are expecting an email to "register" for the FIDE Open or you risk being excluded from first round pairings.
Normal practice at the London Classic. People should be getting use to it by now. And a pretty reasonable precaution to ensuring people get games on the Friday. Especially with such a large tournament and many people coming from abroad who then don’t turn up for whatever reason (probably usually visa related). And of course it is possible that there could be far more potential players affected by this than in the past.
And one other category: Lots of people entitled to free entry for various reasons who enter online and then you never hear from again. The last year without registration, we had 20 defaults in Round 1. So we had to do something!

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5802
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:06 pm

"The last year without registration, we had 20 defaults in Round 1. So we had to do something!"

Yes - and it makes sense. I don't play that many tournaments, but the mainland European ones seem to demand registration for the most part (based on my limited experience.) At least my trudge through the snow in Krakow to register allowed me to recalculate when I needed to leave the hotel during the actual tournament... I was arbiter at one event where the organizer excitedly told me that two people had entered online from New Zealand. I correctly guessed they weren't going to turn up.

Paul Cooksey
Posts: 1519
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2016 4:15 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Paul Cooksey » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:32 pm

I was hoping to play in a tournament in Prague over the summer, but work circumstances meant I had to withdraw a few days before it started. I was expecting the organiser to be annoyed, and maybe he was, but I got a friendly email listing some other events. I guess is quite common.

David Sedgwick
Posts: 5249
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
Location: Croydon
Contact:

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by David Sedgwick » Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:31 am

Paul Cooksey wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:32 pm
I was hoping to play in a tournament in Prague over the summer, but work circumstances meant I had to withdraw a few days before it started. I was expecting the organiser to be annoyed, and maybe he was, but I got a friendly email listing some other events. I guess is quite common.
People who notify their withdrawal a few days beforehand rarely upset organisers and arbiters, although practice varies as to how much, if any, of the entry fee is refunded.

It's the people who enter but then simply don't turn up that are a confounded nuisance.

Nigel White
Posts: 126
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 4:22 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Nigel White » Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:55 am

Alex Holowczak wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:24 pm
The last year without registration, we had 20 defaults in Round 1. So we had to do something!
Last year in the U1600 Weekender (for which no registration was required) in the first round on the Friday night over a quarter of all the games were shown as defaulted - and this figure will exclude successful repairings. My perception is that most of these defaults were by those eligible for free entry.

Does this not suggest "something should be done" for the other tournaments? It is rather dispiriting to make the trek to Olympia for a 6:30pm start and then have to hang around for an hour to find out your opponent is not turning up.

Alex Holowczak
Posts: 9085
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:18 pm
Location: Oldbury, Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Alex Holowczak » Thu Oct 03, 2019 12:37 pm

Nigel White wrote:
Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:55 am
Alex Holowczak wrote:
Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:24 pm
The last year without registration, we had 20 defaults in Round 1. So we had to do something!
Last year in the U1600 Weekender (for which no registration was required) in the first round on the Friday night over a quarter of all the games were shown as defaulted - and this figure will exclude successful repairings. My perception is that most of these defaults were by those eligible for free entry.

Does this not suggest "something should be done" for the other tournaments? It is rather dispiriting to make the trek to Olympia for a 6:30pm start and then have to hang around for an hour to find out your opponent is not turning up.
There were some mitigating circumstances for the weekender in 2018; specifically trains to Olympia were cancelled. Large numbers of defaultees arrived between about 7:45 and 8:00 to at least let us know they arrived and were intending to play. But you are right that a number of those were the free entries.

During the week leading up to the Classic, we send out numerous reminders about registration for the Open. We end up sending about three email reminders, and if they fail we phone people. It's not unusual for me to arrive at Baker Street on the day before Round 1 and still have more than half the entries unregistered, even after an email sent maybe 2 days before... The net result of this though is that we only have 1 default in Round 1 over the last few years from memory, and that was caused by someone withdrawing even after they registered. We make every effort to avoid the problem in the FIDE Open.

We simply don't have the resources to do all that for every other tournament, no matter how desirable it might be to do so. The difference with those events is that at least in the non-titlenorm events, it doesn't risk hindering people's norm chances. But even in those events, we do send fishing emails a few days before welcoming them to the tournament, which we hope some people will reply to and let us know if they are not intending to play.

Richard Bates
Posts: 3338
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:27 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Richard Bates » Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:42 pm

Presumably it makes a difference in “standard” UK tournaments where you can offer repairing and participants are generally keen.

Alex Holowczak
Posts: 9085
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:18 pm
Location: Oldbury, Worcestershire
Contact:

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Alex Holowczak » Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:19 am

Richard Bates wrote:
Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:42 pm
Presumably it makes a difference in “standard” UK tournaments where you can offer repairing and participants are generally keen.
Yes, that was also our view.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: FIDE Open London Chess Classic

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Oct 31, 2019 11:26 pm

There's a list of entries at https://tickets.londonchessclassic.com/entries.php#FIDE

Not that many GMs yet, Stephen Gordon at 2505 the current top seed.

Post Reply