Ashley's Million-dollar chess tourney - but bring your own clocks

I'll take your word for it.

At least the power balance this time is firmly on the chess players side 

I don't think that there would be any fraud charges:  MC, LLC does not take in enough money to cover their expenses.  MC, LLC declares bankruptcy, and the prize winners become unsecured creditors.

I don't think that this will happen because, as Scottrf has stated, Lee and Ashley have their reputations to protect, and Lee appears to have enough money to cover the shortfall.

I was just curious if there was anything other than personal integrity that guaranteed the prize fund (or any guaranteed prize fund for that matter).

4 hours ago · Quote · #1509

woton

Track record sources?

She did not come from money.

You might want to read the following article.

It looks like the family went from riches to rags to riches.

http://tasteoflifemag.com/feature/lana-kwong?lang=en

lol said the sad guy from Western Sahara? go work, dude. May be your wife will let you spend a thousand bucks on yourself in 10 years

Guys, I ran a tournament with a total prize fund of 20K. Prize fund was based on 100 entries, only 40 people showed up. I could legally cut the prize in half, which i did. And even after that, i had to pay people $3,000 with my own freaking money. It sucked but the thought not to pay have never crossed my mind. I value my reputation in a chess community

It's not really relevant whether she came from money, unless you're going at this from some populist/Occupy Wall Street angle, in which case it's a political issue and has nothing to do with chess. rdecredico, can we tone down the ad hominem attacks? I actually agree with your arguments regarding the economic viability of the tournaments, and the constant hysterical emotional rants against other people (balente excluded, go after that guy with all you've got) just distract from what you're saying.

I confess that 500+ entrants is more than I expected. Unfortunately for the organizers, it still isn't enough to make any money on this event. Of course the players don't care, as ashikuzzaman said, whether the organizers turn a profit. As long as the conditions are nice, which they certainly will be, there's a decent chance that people will show up. But the problem remains- outside sponsors are needed to bridge the financial gap, and if it's just Amy Lee... well, I don't think she cares as much about chess as Rex Sinquefield.

I think this will be a fun tournament for the entrants (minus the people who win their sections and have to play rapid chess on Monday), and whether it fizzles out in a year or five, it won't really change American tournament chess for better or worse in any appreciable way. So I'm not worried about it taking chess in a horrible direction- I think if this tournament is discontinued, it will be business as usual for Goichberg and friends.

On a totally random note, Jerry Weikel of the Reno Chess Club runs some of the best chess tournaments I've ever heard of- comfortable and classy venue, pairings on time, large staff, free coffee cake, state/national flags at each board, demo boards for the top 5 boards in the Open section, cash payouts a few hours after the last round, etc. Here's his next tournament- if Vegas is close enough for you, consider Reno instead: https://sites.google.com/site/renochessclub/wso

I wonder if the players bringing their own chess sets, boards, clocks is uniquely American ?  My personal experience makes me believe it is . I have to say there are advantages & disadvantages either way . 

"I'm challenging you" is a poor rationalization for being a jerk.  It's also a common justification for bitterness/maliciousness.  Were you truly more enlightened than the rest of us, you'd act like it.  Instead, you are some kind of adult chess version of a goth kid in high school...the world is pain, humanity is unworthy, nobody can understand you, yadda yadda yadda.

"Entertaining and funny" is something others ascribe to you...you can't award them to yourself.  I don't think I have seen anyone say this about you once in the entire time I have been here.  

Back to the actual topic instead of thinly veiled attention-seeking...it is actually very telling that Mr. Ashley had to find Amy Lee to fund this when Rex Sinquefield would have obviously been his first choice.  One could speculate that MC was offered to Mr. Sinquefield first and that he turned it down...

What I can speak for is many places in Europe and I'ver never seen it here.

Usually it's the local chess club organizing the event or being aid to the organizer. Should they run out of chess sets, neighborhood clubs help out.

In some cases the National Chess Federation helps providing sets and clocks.

That I've seen it working like in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and France.

How is that telling? Especially since it is just speculation.

The Saint Louis Chess club recently held a tournament that gave away an entry to the Millionaire Open to the winner. Not saying that says Rex supports the event explicity but I would think since the club offered it, they don't (and probably Rex doesn't) think it is a bad thing/event.

What else would you do as Rex Sinquefield when GM Ashley is jawing at you about an event you don't really think will work?  You toss a thousand dollars at it...a small price to pay not to offend a well known chess announcer.

...and, that entry may not even be paid for.  Getting any of the Sinquefield Cup players to play in MC is far more of a win for MC than it is for the player in question.  It's hardly a prize for the player; it's a marketing coup for MC.  It seems like MC would gladly offer free entry to any top-10 player if they could do it in a way that does not appear unfair to the paying public.  Why not?  It's not their money they are are diluting if they give away free spots...

It wasn't for the Sinquefield Cup. It was the Millionaire Chess Satellite event. I will also say that I don't know if the club paid for it or if it was some kind of promotional thing though. But speculating that Rex turned down the opportunity to finance the event is a weird thing to do

So, like, are there gonna be any drug tests at this Ashley tournament?

Cuz, like, I don't wanna waste anyone's time . . .

In what way is it a weird thing to do?  Are you telling me that the man that puts on the Sinquefield Cup and who was ready to support Kasparov's FIDE plans to the tune of $10 million (or at least he was a big chunk of that amount) is not the far and away the most obvious would-be sponsor of the MC event?  Do you have some reason to believe that the idea was not trotted out to him first?  It seems like a pretty obvious scenario.

OK. I think this conversation has strayed far enough away from the main topic, and from anything that offers real merit to those interested (or un-interested) in the Millionaire Chess tournament and it's managing team.

I am locking this forum for now.

@rdecredico -- And others who seem to have made this a "personal cursade" to not only undermine the credibility of the organizational team behind MC, but to launch their own personal campaign agaisnt Amy Lee, I'd like to say this:

Though Chess.com cannot speak to any truth or falsehood fo the statements made by those against or in favor of the MC events and the team behind their company, we can speak to the fact that Chess.com Forums are simply not the place for slanderous attacks against any person.

Consistent discussions designed to "insight" and insult a person, regardless of their business, race, financial, cutlural, religious, political or any other "background" is not something we allow by anyone on our site. We're here to talk about chess and have fun -- So I ask that you please refrain from statements of that nature here and everywhere else (forums, notes, etc) on our site from this point forward.

Thank you.

Danny

noooooo