There's a few points I want to make. The first one I made during the broadcast, but can elaborate more on here:
To play or not to play isn't the first question you need to ask. The first question you need to ask yourself as a tournament director is where your priorities lie. If your top priority is to run a great tournament, or even to change the way professionals look at tournaments, then that's your starting point. I am going to assume for the moment that every tournament director has this view, or they wouldn't put in the work to run a tournament.
The next question is: What do you want to get out of playing? Do you want to play to try for a GM norm? Do you want to play to have fun and create memorable sacrifices against the great chess players you have attending (David)? Are you playing to prove something?
Once you have the second question answered, you can go on to the third one. It isn't "should I play?" but instead is "How can I achieve my goal without sacrificing the quality of the tournament?"
David seems to place his TD duties first, and play for fun, not being too serious about the results. This works for him. If you want to play more seriously, figure out how to make sure the tournament runs smoothly even if you aren't spending time as a TD. This brings me to the comment of another user in the channel, quoted here:
madhattery: surround yourself with competent help...let them handle the particulars during play
Pardon Our Blunders Show Review: Dec. 1, 2010
Written by: ChessMarkstheSpot
Welcome to the weekly review of Pardon Our Blunders. Every week our Hosts cover varied topics—all chess-related. As regular viewers know, their coverage normally leads to some very interesting and entertaining banter. Here’s a rundown of this week’s Topic #3:
Should chess tournament organizers play in their own events? Pros and Cons??
Danny kicked this off by saying this was a personal subject for him as he runs tournaments like the Copper State International. The first year of the tournament, he said he played badly because he wasn’t able to focus because he was responsible for the organization of the event.
The second year he did not play, but felt regret because he had 15 very strong GMs come to this event in his hometown. He had this one great chance of playing these strong players and didn’t do it.
David has run about 6 tournaments at this level and has another one planned in January. He mentioned he has played in all of the tournaments. He said you give up a few points when you play because you're often busy elsewhere. During one game, his clock was running down while he was busy taking care of a problem, meanwhile getting flagged down by someone in the playing hall. He said despite all of that, he always feels good when he plays.
Danny says this year, his tournament will be Round Robin-based and the event will be held in the same hotel where the players sleep, to make it more convenient for them. Danny wants to make his event an Elite event to establish a strong reputation and foundation, and hopefully change the way professionals look at and relate to chess tournaments in America. Danny didsay he is going to play this year. Good luck “Pappa Bear”
What does everyone think about this? Should organizers play in events they host? Drop off your thoughts here.