I usually do not pay attention much about the world open but I just read a post on the chess drum new blog about this event which I find interesting.
The upcoming world open has BIG price tag if you want to participate. It would cost you around $350 if you are willing enter 4-5 months in advance. This amount would go up to $400 if you decide at the last minute and pay on site.
Let’s face it, the odd of players breaking even financially after entry fees, meals, hotels, flight or gas if you drive and other miscellaneous expenses, is very very very slim.
So the question is would you pay $400 in entry fees and perhaps another $1,000 in expenses to play in an event (with little chances of making money) to face against some decent competition? This would amount to something like $155 per game if you play a full 9 games. If you withdraw early, that amount could become even higher!
If the answer is yes, you are willing to pay the big money to play, why? If the answer is no, what would be an ideal chess event that you would like to play in?
No, I stopped playing in the world open. I can’t afford it. I play on weekend quads.
This is too much for me. I don’t mind paying $40-$50 at most for entry fees.
So the question is would you pay $400 in entry fees and perhaps another $1,000 in expenses to play in an event (with little chances of making money) to face against some decent competition?
Nope. I can get good competition at my level via ICC and, if I want, the local chess club. The big weekend Swisses are just too expensive to play in.
I like the National Open.
The World Open has too many cheats, sandbaggers attracted to $$$$$ instead of love of the game.
Most definitely not. This is why online chess became so popular. I doubt if I would be willing to pay more than $40 for an entry fee nowadays. When you calculated it out to about $155/game, it makes it even harder to justify playing. While I’m all for supporting up and coming GMs, I see no reason to pay this much to build up a prize fund that most players at my level will hardly be able to compete for.
The players in those events don’t care what the entry fee is. They see it as an investment for the prize they think they’ll win because they’re underrated (all chessplayers think they’re underrated, and the sandbaggers really ARE underrated). At worst they think of it as gambling, like going to Las Vegas for a weekend of blackjack. Even if you don’t win, you have a good time, and there’s always that chance of hitting big.
I personally don’t have any interest in those big expensive tournaments but a lot of other players do, and that’s perfectly fine with me. What I don’t like is the USCF organizing itself around that, and believing that ordinary chessplayers have such big chess budgets. The events I personally like to play in are chess club events, I was on my high school chess team, etc. (I was a terrible player but it was great fun).
I’m going to use four-letter words to describe what’s wrong with the USCF, in fact I’m going to type the F word in all capital letters, I feel so strongly. I know that Susan is tough enough to hear this, even if more delicate wimps like Sam Sloan faint dead away. So here comes the four-letter F word: USCF membership (at least entry level membership) should be FREE. And yes, the USCF delegates really do think that word is an obscenity ;-).
That’s what the USCF has to do to expand its membership: have a basic membership class with annual dues of ZERO (another four-letter word in all caps, that gives Sam Sloan heartburn). No magazine. No crap in the mail. Just a membership number and an entry in the ratings database, maintained completely automatically by a computer at minimal cost. It would work like this:
1. USCF creates a “Basic membership” class open to players of all ages. You cannot sign up directly for it, you need a sponsor. A sponsor is a USCF affiliate with internet access, who has some certified skills for enrolling and taking care of basic members (they need minimal TD experience plus must pass an online test equivalent to Local Tournament Director, i.e. not difficult). Scholastic chess coaches, chess club TD’s etc. would get this certification.
2. You sign up with the sponsor and the sponsor gives you a membership card (USCF supplies him/her with cards) and maybe a pamphlet from USCF encouraging you to buy crap and become a full member, giving you the USCF website address, etc.
3. You can now play in any USCF event open to Basic members. Whether to open an event to Basic members is up to the organizer (Bill G. might require full (non-basic) membership for the World Open, for example, because of the higher reliability of rating paying members). However, any event open to Basic members MUST have its rating report submitted online, NOT on paper or diskette (i.e. the office never has to touch it, keeps expenses down). Ratings fees per game stay the same.
4. As a Basic member you get a rating, computed by the provisional formula at first and then by the regular formula as usual, but the rating is always considered provisional no matter how it’s computed and no matter how many games you play. If you play 500 games and then upgrade your membership, your rating is still provisional until you play 20 games as a paying member. This is to stop sandbaggers from using basic memberships to gain established ratings.
5. As a basic member you are not eligible for any cash prizes in tournaments higher 2x your entry fee (or maybe even just 1x). You can additionally win low-value non-cash prizes like small trophies, certificates, maybe a chess book, etc. (no solid gold diamond-studded trophies please). If you win an event with a prize fund, it’s treated sort of like the old rule for computers: you get announced as the winner, you get the title and trophy etc., but any cash prize you might have been eligible for goes back to the fund to be split among the full-member players. Again this is both an anti-sandbagging measure and a way to make players after cash prizes still pay into the USCF.
6. If there is a problem with your rating (some game got mis-reported or something), talk to your sponsor, NOT the USCF office. Your sponsor has the authority and access to correct such problems online without the office getting involved (that is why they need to be certified). Of course they should contact the other player’s coach to sort out the issue if necessary, but this can all happen at a volunteer level.
While allowing random TD’s and coaches to poke the rating computer directly may decrease the reliability of basic members’ ratings, the whole idea is that low-stakes recreational players should not have to pay for a high-overhead rating system for the benefit of World Open-ish players and organizers. It’s ok for recreational players to accept a higher error rate to keep things streamlined and low cost. If they need more stringent controls and recourse to the office, they can always pay for a full membership.
7) Because of the above, in addition to big-money events, high prestige events like national scholastic championships should probably not be open to basic members.
Susan wrote a few days ago that more scholastic players are USCF non-members than are members, supposedly because the USCF is not offering what they need. The USCF -does- in fact offer what’s needed, it just charges too much for it and so the scholastic organizers do things themselves without the USCF.
The USCF worked fine in the 1960’s with just 3000 or so dues-paying members. With today’s computers it should be able to handle tons of rated players at very little additional cost.
I wonder if anyone read this thing all the way to the end ;-).
“If the answer is yes, you are willing to pay the big money to play, why?”
Yes, I’m loaded with cash, so no problem. Why not pay to play with GMs? Would I get to play with a master at least? If yes, then I’d pay to play.
wuzlqbbt
I am an IM, so it would be stupid to play. There is only one
I have been supporting the World Open as the only tournament that offer decent Chess Prizes. The truth is Chess will not get any respect in this country unless there is money in Chess.
Bill Goichberg tournament circuit is the only game in town offering semi pro players a shot at earning a living from chess. I guess the odds at the World Open are better than buying a $10,000 seat for a major Poker tournament.
I’m staying away from Chess Drum….to many pop-up ads!!!!!
Although I have been supporting the World Open for the competition and the prizes, I would have opted to play the Canadian Open as I’ve known about it early enough. I like the format of 1 round in the evening so you have the whole day for sightseeing with the family.
I think this would be my ideal format and a preferred way to spend a grand.
I like “anonymous idea” of a cheaper basic membership if you opt out to receive Chess Life. The saving should be no more than $10 less than the regular membership but the rating system needs to be centrally managed.
but didn’t they already try a no-magazine cheap membership (not free though) and found people didn’t stay because they had no connection to the organization? I must admit I don’t have all the details on this but we should know what was already done and learn from it.
The Canadian Open (July 7-15) looks like a great event, with Short and Ivkov among the preregistrants:
http://canchess.ca/
http://cocycc.pbwiki.com/COFullEventDetails
http://cocycc.pbwiki.com/CORegisteredPlayers
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no i wouldnt unless there was a big prize for the winner. i would pay $400 to enter a poker tournament. i just started playing poker over a week ago for the first time and already winning quite often against good players. you can find some $100 buyin for tournament poker where top prize is 5k. if your good then its worth it. not all poker buyins are 10k. remember 10k if you win turns into 12 million dollars. even placing in top ten probaly gets over a million dollars. thats a good incentive if your a professional player.
I might be wiling to pay this money for a Fischer Random tournament. This would at least give an amateur like me an even chance against the professional players with deep opening knowledge learned by rote.
BTW, GM Susan, you do not seem to be holding up the promise of promoting Fischer Random Chess.
Rgds M.
I would prefer the National Open (in Las Vegas) if they can keep the entry fee under $100!
Someone said many centuries ago that ” the love of money is the root of much evil!” So it is with chess! I think that because the organizers focus so much on making money (the USCF included!) the loose sight of what they could do to really make chess grow BIG time! I agree with Anonymous that having a FREE USCF membership option would go a long way towards helping to popularize chess in the USA! Seems like a good idea, since one can upgrade the membership once he/she improves enough to take on the more competitive players, and go for the larger prize funds! Also, if IMs, GMs and other strong players would 1st learn a money making skill like computer programming, then they could pursue chess without being from hand to mouth trying to make a living from chess!
Bill Goichberg riuns chess in USA and put a lot of money on entree fees…We need a new president…at least a decent one who understand chess better than money.