Taiwan Nationals 2013: part 2 -- no food breaks

The first qualifying round is by rapid games. The top 10 (and best three females) qualify for the semi-finals which will also be decided by longer rapid games.

There are four qualifiers in the country, with a mess of rules how many can qualify in qualifier X if you leave in county Y.

My grief with the initial qualifier is (apart from the messy rules and the noisy kids nobody tells to shut up) the food breaks. Or rather, the absence of them.

The games start 8:30 in the morning and go on until late afternoon. Seven rounds of 30 min games, no break. The next round start instantly after the previous one. And since the games are shortish there is no time to go out and eat even if you finish a little early. so if you are a coffee addict, tough luck. Also the queue to the toilet is long as Santa Claus' beard.

However there is a food arrangement in place. A Taiwanese lunch box for each participant. It is something  cooked who-knows-when in some factory in Hillbilly land, packaged into paper boxes, freighted to town in the morning and then reheated somehow. The whole concept is not very appealing. Iniside the box you might find something a non-native wouldn't touch. Like rice with pig's intestines on top. Not so nice if you are a vegetarian.. or a vegan like one guy was.

Why not just have a 30 minute lunch break?