One euro for a beer and two for a sandwich?!? I'm used to kids buzzing around everywhere and having to nap in my car between rounds (although I will say my last tournament, the Larry Evans Memorial in Reno, was run incredibly well and was a pleasure to attend). These European tournaments sound almost too good to be true! Although I will say there are probably fewer class prizes over there- a minor drawback for a Class B player such as myself
Ashley's Million-dollar chess tourney - but bring your own clocks
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Must be a few years ago, you could barely pay that in supermarkets now.
May 14, 2014
0
#84
Well, normally they are one big Swiss section, with rating prizes for class players. Nobody makes a fortune, it's all about playing chess. Even the kiddie-patzers stand a fair chance of playing a master, in the initial rounds.
May 14, 2014
0
#85
Scottrf wrote:
Must be a few years ago, you could barely pay that in supermarkets now.
I have no doubt that they were purchased in bulk, and sold at cost.
Fair enough, can't argue with that!
Maybe some could be sent to the third world where they can't even afford clocks?
Doggy_Style wrote:
I've competed in tournaments in Northern France, ten euros for nine rounds (rapidplay), where we played in near GM conditions (indeed, I played three masters in three rounds at one event) and all the fees (and more, it seemed) were returned in prizes. At prize giving, age appropriate drinks and a buffet were supplied, free of charge.
I have never seen that in my chess playing life, except at club tournaments (where basically no advertisement is made, mostly club regulars come, and buffet is brought by the players themselves).
Maybe it's because peasants from the outside suburbs need entertainment of some sort when we Parisianers live lavishly. More seriously, I suspect that most of the entry fee in tournaments near Paris is gobbled by renting the room (factoring in that local authorities may give discounts to such cultural events, it makes the location expensive instead of horribly expensive).
I would say the standard prize for a rapid tournament with 100~200 players, 7 rounds in one day, smallish prizes (say €1k for the winner and a few €100-ish prizes for best junior etc.), reasonably close to public transportation is around €20 nowadays. You get FIDE arbiters, rated games, and analysis room, but no buffet.
Now if I hear that US players have $40 entry fees for the same prize funds, bringing their material, a leaky roof and mandatory playing in a cage to get sponsorship from the local zoo, I will consider myself lucky.
hmcgrier wrote:
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.
I think this is a bigger problem in the US. I was just watching the 2014 Gibraltar tournament on youtube and it uses a swiss format that has been running for over 20 years and they are sponsored. The tournament rating limit is 2100 and attracts plenty of top players.
Tata Steel is an invite-only tournament (I think) and its been running for over 70 years. Maybe things haven't been perfect for the organizers and I don't know what goes on behind the scenes but they've managed to run for a long time.
Meanwhile every other thread here is talking about getting sponsors for US chess and how to make it more popular. The St. Louis Chess Club seems to be doing great as well as a few others. The Sinquefield Cup is the only tournament in the US to feature the highest category players, apart from Kamsky and Nakamura, for a long time.
There were other events which were streamed like the G-Star event but before that I can only think of the Kasparov - Short blitz matches and the Kasparov - Anand match at the world trade center ; both of which occured in the 90s!
In the documentary "American Gambit," the junior team talked about the difficulties of becoming a top player in the US compared to the formally known Soviet Union due to the support structure and that was in 1988. All of those junior players became IMs and GMs but most of them stopped playing at some point. I think GM Alex Fishbein is the only one that still plays.
For one reason or another promoting chess in the US just hasn't been the same as in other countries.
>For one reason or another promoting chess in the US just hasn't been the same as in other countries. <
And it won't get any better by advertising $1000 entry fees.
Irontiger wrote:
Doggy_Style wrote:
I've competed in tournaments in Northern France, ten euros for nine rounds (rapidplay), where we played in near GM conditions (indeed, I played three masters in three rounds at one event) and all the fees (and more, it seemed) were returned in prizes. At prize giving, age appropriate drinks and a buffet were supplied, free of charge.
I have never seen that in my chess playing life, except at club tournaments (where basically no advertisement is made, mostly club regulars come, and buffet is brought by the players themselves).
Maybe it's because peasants from the outside suburbs need entertainment of some sort when we Parisianers live lavishly. More seriously, I suspect that most of the entry fee in tournaments near Paris is gobbled by renting the room (factoring in that local authorities may give discounts to such cultural events, it makes the location expensive instead of horribly expensive).
I would say the standard prize for a rapid tournament with 100~200 players, 7 rounds in one day, smallish prizes (say €1k for the winner and a few €100-ish prizes for best junior etc.), reasonably close to public transportation is around €20 nowadays. You get FIDE arbiters, rated games, and analysis room, but no buffet.
Now if I hear that US players have $40 entry fees for the same prize funds, bringing their material, a leaky roof and mandatory playing in a cage to get sponsorship from the local zoo, I will consider myself lucky.
I thought about entering the World Open this year and upon looking at the flyer I noticed that the entry fee was over $300. I don't think I can justify paying that much for a hobby unless it was to pay for something like an instrument or tool that I would own forever. I wish good luck to those that do decide to go to this and the million dollar tournament but this could mean the end of big chess events for me.
Well that is a bit to easy for my taste, you could also have said, well a 1 million dollar price will be great to get chess to compete with poker again.
(It won't though, poker has no ratings and a lot of fools, chess has ratings, but not many 1200 players that will think they will beat a GM. Less fools, no chance is involved. It's a game based pure on skill and no game of skill can compete with the rush of gambling. And while poker isn't pure gambling, the random element of the cards you are dealt, make it just that.)
Wilbert_78 wrote:
not many 1200 players that will think they will beat a GM.
I don't think this is what they are counting on.
>I don't think this is what they are counting on.<
Correct. They are counting on about 900 or so idiots to donate large prizes to a few dozen players, most of them slumming grandmasters.
I believe they have signed up 91. They have some work to do.
May 14, 2014
0
#94
A slight digression, but I think a big difference between what goes on here and what goes on in Europe is that we have class prizes and class sections. I have never once played "up" in my eight tournaments since returning to tournament chess last January; I've never played anyone over 1580 whereas in Europe I would be playing experts and rookies all in a day's work. Then again, this shouldn't really be a big financial obstacle if you think about the classes as separate sections. I don't think TDs make that much money, but it is a bit frustrating to finish third or fourth in one's section and barely break even. Not as frustrating as sending in $1000+ and going 1-5 in one's section, but still...
>Not as frustrating as sending in $1000+ and going 1-5 in one's section<
Yeah, but you get free chocolates! And a "musical soundtrack!" Only one time if you're not an IM or GM, but how many chair massages can you handle, Huckleberry?
"Offerings include a welcome cocktail, continuous supply of refreshments, complimentary chair massage, chocolate confectionaries, musical soundtrack, a chance to shake hands with VIPs, and more."
maskedbishop wrote:
>I don't think this is what they are counting on.<
Correct. They are counting on about 900 or so idiots to donate large prizes to a few dozen players, most of them slumming grandmasters.
In all 6 sections, there are prizes for the top 50 finishers, as well as class prizes for the Open and U1400 sections.
No one is being forced to participate. Anyone who signs up is willingly putting up $1k for a chance to win 20-50x their entry fee. In normal big US chess tournaments, you are putting up $150 to win 10-20x your entry fee. It's about the same as the World Open, except there are only prizes for the top 10 finishers in a section.
Millionaire chess costs 3x as much as the World Open with 4x the prize fund.
The people who think this event will be a huge flop should be rushing to sign up because the prize fund is guaranteed. They're essentially offering an all expenses paid (minus $30 clock) trip for you to play chess in Vegas. Why haven't you signed up already??? FREE MONEY!!!!???111111juan
SilentKnighte5 wrote:
The people who think this event will be a huge flop should be rushing to sign up because the prize fund is guaranteed.
Lol.
You know there is a nonzero chance that "guaranteed prize fund" is just posturing in order to attract more players, which would indeed guarantee the prize fund ?
May 15, 2014
0
#99
They need 1600+ players to break even. They will probably draw around 1200. There are 318 prizes. That means 900+ people will walk away with nothing. Also, the majority of the prizes are token amounts, $2000, $1000, and $600. These won't pay most peoples expenses.
In all honesty, in the Netherlands about every (rated and unrated) tournament is organised by the clubs who are connected to the KNSB (Dutch chess organization) or by the KNSB themself. So the people who attend can often attend free or for a modest fee. The chess-sets and clocks are club-owned. When you join a Dutch club, the club will have a chess-set at their clubhome you can use. You can't take it home. But you don't have to take your own set and clock to the club.