New National Blitz event

[Alex Holowczak]

Paignton has taken place in the first week of September for 60+ consecutive years. It could therefore be hoped that the event qualified as fairly significant in dates to avoid clashing an important new event with.

Actually, it wasn't. Mostly because when we put the dates in the diary, there was some doubt that Paignton would even go ahead this year; it being before news of the Wilson/Rudd takeover went public and ensured it would be going ahead.

In terms of dates:
- 1 September, English Women's Championship
- 8 September, Paignton possibly
- 15 September, UKCC Terafinal (so lots of strong children unavailable)
- 22 September, 29 September, 6 October, many of the people who might have run events are in Batumi at the Olympiad (Holowczak, McFarlane, Carr, Atkinson), and indeed many of the players (particularly in Cardiff) would be there too
- 13 October, many of the people who might be running events are at the ECF AGM (which I know may seem like a confusion of priorities, but staff availability is important)
- 20 October, 27 October, clashes with Isle of Man
- 4 November, clashes with the 4NCL International
- 11 November, 18 November, clashes with 4NCL (it's a split weekend)
- 25 November, clashes with the British Rapidplay
- 1 December, this is the date we're holding the Final!
- 8 December, the day before the London Chess Classic festival starts; at the time, we didn't know whether or not this date would be available

And that's just England, if we remember Isle of Man is in England for chess administration so far as FIDE were concerned. Of the various things it was going to clash with, Paignton was the only real option, on the grounds that at the time we didn't know whether or not it was going ahead.

[Mick Norris]

Report with photos and Qualifiers

[Keith Arkell]

there was some doubt that Paignton would even go ahead this year.

In terms of dates:
- 1 September, English Women's Championship
- 8 September, Paignton possibly
- 15 September, UKCC Terafinal (so lots of strong children unavailable)

Point taken about Paignton.

However, of course I understand that the clash may simply have been unavoidable.

My stronger hope, for future years, remains that there might be 2 qualifying dates, eg 4 qualifiers on one day and 4 on another. In this case, perhaps that might have equated to the 8th and 9th of September? Many players have privately said to me the same.

Anyway, I don't want this detail to detract from what was a smashing organisational effort by Alex and the ECF, and a welcome new event in the calendar.

[Keith Arkell]

If there is a British Blitz this Year ( and rumour has it that there still may be) pleeease can we not clash the qualifiers with Paignton this year. The Paignton dates are 31 Aug - 7 Sept, and have been known for a long time.

Or failing that, please can we at least have 2 different qualifying dates. I would value the opportunity to give the event a go this year and am committed to playing at Paignton.

[Adam Raoof]

If there is a British Blitz this Year ( and rumour has it that there still may be) pleeease can we not clash the qualifiers with Paignton this year. The Paignton dates are 31 Aug - 7 Sept, and have been known for a long time.

Or failing that, please can we at least have 2 different qualifying dates. I would value the opportunity to give the event a go this year and am committed to playing at Paignton.

I did ask, and I was told 7th September, and on that basis I might organise the qualifier in London again if asked.

[Mick Norris]

According to the ECF Calendar

Sep 7 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Regional qualifying events in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester (tbc), Newcastle, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast. Venue details will be advised separately for each event. Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice. The top two players in each qualifier will qualify for the Final on 30th November 2019, played at St John’s Hotel in Solihull. The top two female players in each qualifier will qualify for a Women’s Final, held concurrently. Both Finals and the qualifiers combined will have a total prize fund in excess of £5,000.

Presumably it would be possible to have at least 1 qualifier on Sunday 8 September

[Adam Raoof]

According to the ECF Calendar

Sep 7 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Regional qualifying events in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester (tbc), Newcastle, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast. Venue details will be advised separately for each event. Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice. The top two players in each qualifier will qualify for the Final on 30th November 2019, played at St John’s Hotel in Solihull. The top two female players in each qualifier will qualify for a Women’s Final, held concurrently. Both Finals and the qualifiers combined will have a total prize fund in excess of £5,000.

Presumably it would be possible to have at least 1 qualifier on Sunday 8 September

Apparently they all have to happen on the same day.

[Mick Norris]

Once you have specified that "Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice" you simply disqualify anyone who enters a second event, even if the local organisers don't spot it; so, no obvious reason not to have a qualifier (or 2, 3, 4) on the Sunday

[Alex Holowczak]

Once you have specified that "Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice" you simply disqualify anyone who enters a second event, even if the local organisers don't spot it; so, no obvious reason not to have a qualifier (or 2, 3, 4) on the Sunday

If the local organisers don't spot it, then you inconvenience all the 15 people who they've played, particularly if they finish 2nd, and the player they beat in Round 15 finishes 4th, meaning that the player who finishes 4th misses out entirely on qualifying and the person who finishes 3rd qualifies. So it just ruins the tournament for everyone, and causes kerfuffle. When coming up with the format, one of the things was to make it as kerfuffle-free as possible.

I'm sure I'm saying too much by saying this, but I think Keith's problem will be solved in time for 2020.

[Roger de Coverly]

Once you have specified that "Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice" you simply disqualify anyone who enters a second event, even if the local organisers don't spot it; so, no obvious reason not to have a qualifier (or 2, 3, 4) on the Sunday

I would have thought the better approach would be to set an entry deadline of the previous Friday evening or the shortly before the start of the first round on Saturday morning. Assuming all entries are posted to chess-results, it shouldn't be difficult to screen the entries to the Sunday tournaments to find any duplicates to the Saturday ones. Any found would be excluded from the pairings.

[David Shepherd]

Given there will be quite a few players in Paignton would it be feasible to hold an extra blitz qualifier in or near there from about 4pm (or whatever time the main open is likely to finish)?

[Kevin Thurlow]

I think whatever you are doing, you should try to encourage people to play.

[Mick Norris]

Given there will be quite a few players in Paignton would it be feasible to hold an extra blitz qualifier in or near there from about 4pm (or whatever time the main open is likely to finish)?

Big ask for players and organisers; it wouldn't finish until at least 9 pm

[Thomas Rendle]

I don't have any objection to there being 1 qualifier on the Sunday. That's only one event where the organiser has to check noone played the day before. Explicitly say then that you're only to play in one qualifier and attempts to circumvent this will result in banning from next year's event as well - and I would imagine no one will try. That should = problem solved?

[Keith Arkell]

Yes, it seems bizarre to me that the only objection to having qualifiers on Saturday and Sunday is in case someone cheats and tries to play both days!

Who in their right mind would waste all the costs, and a day of their life, knowing that they are bound to be caught sooner or later? And this far-fetched fear will prevent many players from legitimately entering the event who are available on Sunday but not on Saturday.

It's very disappointing if the Paignton players lose out again. Last Year Michael Fernandez defaulted to go off to a qualifier, Jack and myself would have liked to give it a go, and Eric Gardiner mentioned on here that he was also interested. I didn't ask anyone else.