37th Surrey Chess Congress, Easter + Spring Bank Holidays

[Mike Gunn]

SURREY CHESS CONGRESS 2014

This year the events will be

The Junior Championships on 21st April 2014 at Nonsuch High School, Cheam

The Adult Rapidplay on 21st April 2014 at Nonsuch High School, Cheam

The traditional Congress Standard play tournaments on 24th-26th May 2014 at the Guidford Institute, Ward Street, Guildford.

(This year the organisers have moved the traditional Congress Standard play tournaments from the Easter weekend to the Spring Bank Holiday weekend because of growth in the number of congresses taking place in the South of England at Easter.)

Download entry forms from the website: www.surreychesscongress.co.uk

[Brendan O'Gorman]

SURREY CHESS CONGRESS 2014

This year the events will be

-- text omitted --

The traditional Congress Standard play tournaments on 24th-26th May 2014 at the Guidford Institute, Ward Street, Guildford.

(This year the organisers have moved the traditional Congress Standard play tournaments from the Easter weekend to the Spring Bank Holiday weekend because of growth in the number of congresses taking place in the South of England at Easter.)
--text omitted --

Always good to see another congress appear in the calendar, but I'm not sure this was the weekend to pick. As far as I can see, there are congresses already planned for this weekend at Potters Bar, Reading and Cheltenham. And why only five rounds when you have three days of play?

[John R Moore]

I have just looked at the entry form for the Surrey weekend congress and the first prize of £100 in each section is just so poor, especially as the entry fee is £27. This just confirms my belief that they should be no prizes, except in the open section, and trophies should be handed out for the winners in the rest of the sections. Most players do not play for money, so why not go down this route. Some of Sean's events sometimes has no prize fund, just rating points!

[Mike Gunn]

When we looked at the Calendar the only (possibly) competing event for that weekend was Cheltenham. We contacted Tony Corfe (who usually runs the bookstall for us at Easter in Cheam) to tell him of the move he told us about Potters Bar and he suggested that co-existence was possible (we tend to get a few competitors from north London, but not many). The Reading event is news to us, have you got a link. The reason we moved from Easter is that this year we found ouselves up against e2e4 at Sunningdale as well as Coulsdon and Southend (would have been 3 tournaments in Surrey over the same period). The reason for the single round on Saturday is because of a previous booking for Saturday morning/ lunchtime at the excellemt venue. We would have preferred 6 rounds but not having the largest playing room available for the first round was just an insurmountable obstacle

On the financial side we deliberately reduced both the entry fees and the prize fund. Previously the entry fees were £38, £36, £33 and £30, now they are £27, £27, £25, and £25. We reduced the guaranteed prize fund from £2000 (included £350 for the rapidplay) to £1,000. So we are moving in the direction you recommend. In equalizing the prize fund between all entries I had in mind a suggestion along these lines made by Chris Kreuzer on this forum a couple of years ago. For the last few years we haven't attracted the number of competitors that would justify the venue and the adult events have been cross-subsidised by the junior events. We decided to stop that this year and I think our entry fees are competitive, even if the prize fund is not very generous! Without going into all the details the budget for the event is break even on the basis of modest drop in the number of entries (we know from previous experience that you lose some regulars when you change venues and dates).

[Roger de Coverly]

The Reading event is news to us, have you got a link. The reason we moved from Easter is that this year we found ouselves up against e2e4 at Sunningdale as well as Coulsdon and Southend (would have been 3 tournaments in Surrey over the same period).

Check the calendar at the e2e4 website, which lists an event at De Vere Wokefield Park for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. As yet, it remains to be confirmed as no details have been published and no entries can be made or hotel bookings taken.

Regarding Surrey, you may find in the centre of Guildford, that the cost of car parking will be a disincentive to participants.

[Mike Gunn]

Roger, yes we know about the parking situation. We can tell you where you can park for free if you enter one of our events!

[Chris Bernard]

I'll be there for the Rapidplay at Nonsuch. I have played there twice and It was both times well run and lively and I'd like to thank Mr. Gunn for continuing with the event.

Like a lot of club players who work 5 or often 6 days a week, I have been logging on to the livestream coverage of many tournaments at work with the excellent coverage by Mr. Trent, Ms. Polgar, Simon Williams etc and have understood better the highs and lows of tournaments even at the highest level - and so I would like to play some tournaments myself. I am sure there are many in the same position as myself ie time poor, cash poor but enthused to play more tournaments after having logged into watch recently streamed events.

On the financial side - do any of us play for the money ? I won all of £ 40 in the Surrey (minor) Rapidplay last year and the look of surprise on my young daughter's face (and perhaps the wife) that I was actually good at anything was worth ten times that. I don't think anyone in the room was there for the money and that the junior tournament I suspect subsidised the adults anyway.

So well done for putting this tournament in the calendar and for guaranteeing the prize fund, I will be there for Guildford as my first full chess tournament since 1998, (probably by train given the central Guildford location which seems a lot better way to prepare than hacking round South London to the A3 by car anyway).

[John Upham]

Is there a link to a "current entry list"?

[Mike Gunn]

We're waiving the late entry fee for the Easter Monday rapidplay for anybody who enters by email today.

[Mike Gunn]

Sadly we have had to cancel the Surrey Congress over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend (May 24th to 26th) due to too few entries being received to have a viable congress. Everybody who had entered is being contacted/ will be receiving a refund.