Pay 1000$ to attend a tournament that is probably overratted and yet you have to bring your own clocks?
Sounds just like college!
Ashley's Million-dollar chess tourney - but bring your own clocks
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I hope the tournament is a success. And if anyone, including GM Ashley, makes a profit because people freely choose to enter, then more power to them.
BTW, there's nothing strange about requiring players to bring their own clocks. This is standard procedure in U.S. chess tournaments.
Where can I sign up!?
........
But I am broke! I can't afford this!
...
Unless I borrow
May 13, 2014
0
#28
Then you will probably not be among those taking chess to a "never-before-seen level."
Or will I???
In the wrong way?
May 13, 2014
0
#30
maskedbishop wrote:
A cool grand would buy you about 6 hours of private instruction with any grandmaster in the country, which seems to your ever-lovin' TMB a much better way to spend your chess dollars.
TMB
With US$ 1000 you can afford 10 hours of instruction (not only 6):
GM Gregory Kaidanov
$100.00
The highest rated US player between 2002-2004(2745 USCF)
1 hour=$100. 
My lessons are more expensive than other vendors, but with more insight you actually save time and money. That's not my claim, that's what my students are saying.
Visit http://www.kaidanov.org/
I think some people would sandbag their rating so they can win the U1000 prize.
We will see new levels in cheating. I can think of several that would normally be unprofitable given the cost, but now for 1 million USD ...
This from an old poker, backgammon, and blackjack player...
The late Ken Uston would recommend clandestine teams...
MBClevenger wrote:
As for prize money, the tournament doesn't go on unless it has 1,000 registrants, correct?
Incorrect, the event was already moving forward with the $1M guaranteed prize fund with 76 registrants (now 90+, I guess). As for:
1,000x1,000 is 1,000,000 so he's not losing a penny.
Your business acumen is amazing...being able to run such a large tournament in Las Vegas completely free of cost is quite a feat (there are no significant advertisers at this juncture)...I would love to read that business plan.
What nobody has addressed yet is perhaps the worst effect this effort could have...after they lose their shirt on trying to pretend chess has the same mainstream appeal as poker, this event will be used for years as an example to sponsors of why to avoid chess like the plague. So the "it doesn't hurt to try it" argument is far from the truth...
May 13, 2014
0
#36
What nobody has addressed yet is perhaps the worst effect this effort could have...after they lose their shirt on trying to pretend chess has the same mainstream appeal as poker, this event will be used for years as an example to sponsors of why to avoid chess like the plague.
That's a good point.
>trying to pretend chess has the same mainstream appeal as poker<
I don't think that's their goal. I think they are well aware that there are many amateurs out there with money to burn, who will gladly shell out $1000 to feed their own vanity by attending a "premiere" event.
These same amateurs will perform exactly as they do at a regular Open - the vast majority of them losing and getting no prize money. Those players that do win, the ones that always win at Opens, will pull in ten times the usual prize monies.
It's a huge hustle to enrich a small group of chess players. There is nothing about this event that will promote chess or make it more attractive to the American public.
I don't think that's their goal.
That is definitely their goal. How any one could look at how this being set up and not see it as a bad copy of the WSOP is beyond me.
It's likely both...a bid to look like WSOP *and* a naked attempt to fleece amateurs of even more money than usual.
US Chess has always built its Opens around the idea that the needs of the few will be subsidized by the inabilities of the many. Thus we have long seen three-digit entry fees that serve no purpose other than to fill the wallets of the same group of players.
Does anyone in the rank-and-file seriously enter chess tournaments to make money? Think how many more people might play if the prize was a certificate or a trophy, and the entry fee just enough to cover the hotel rent and supplies?
This Millionaire event is just the logical extension of that flawed system. Hey, they paid $200 to get in and lose...maybe they'll pay $1000! And sure enough, the registrations are steadily coming in.
No-one is going to win a million here, pal. The top prize is 100K in the Open section, and that presumes you are in sole first place, which never happens.
"Smart business decision, so good for him" is an interesting defense. It's all about someone making bucks, hmm? Making a profit on people trumps all other considerations?
My argument is that this is an icky thing for chess. It's not going to increase the number of chess players in the USA. It's not going to glamorize the game, save for some feeble media attention because of the dollars.