2. Play game
3. Win
4. Collect money
Long ago I studied with a chess teacher from Leningrad and he said to always play for money because it forced u to take all ur decisions more seriously. It wasn't about trying to win money, it was to help reduce ur lazy thinking because it made the games matter more.
one on one is always an option. The difference is the scope of the event. Each day, (no brackets) is run and completed on the same day. There could be thousands of entries. The odds are set so that 1 person for every 10 is in the money. The other event will be winner take all. So, imagine a tournament with 5000 entries and a $6 entry fee where the payback is %80 of entry. That is a bit more than you can earn playing face-to-face. AND, a novice has just as much of a chance as a grandmaster.
Because chess is a game of skill, it does not contain the element of randomness as many other gaming venues do. Like ten-pin bowling in America, tournaments are conducted all the time, though on a small scale due to the methods of the tournament itself.
I designed my tournament to allow for cash awards. It also includes the free version running today. As the membership grows to an acceptable number, I will query the members to see how many wish to play for cash. For those that do, I will implement the cash version, while keeping the free version available to those who want it.
The purists among you may speak out against the very idea. Not everyone in the world thinks the same way and nobody will be forced into a situation they do not want.
I do not know who has designed a method of tournament play where the lower-skilled players can contribute as much as the higher-skilled, more advanced players. I think I have.
Because the matches are played here on chess.com, they can be verified by the way we handle a player's ratings. We use something called an API which sends us the outcome of every rapid 30-min match played here. Our program lives on servers outside of chess.com and compute the outcome of the tournament. The results are displayed on an independent website, 4teamchess.com. Tournament calculations are transparent to anyone that wants to verify how the results were obtained.
The players are all assigned to a 4 person team. The scores contributed by each player are the difference between a player's 7game ratings average and the ratings average, after the completion of the most recent match. that is how a novice player can obtain a score higher than an advanced player.
Teams are assembled using the players' position in a sort of all the entrants. You can see a demonstration of the tournament daily on our website.
I expect some conversation in regard to the concept. Chess.com is aware of my intentions and I continue to work with them to avoid issues with countries that do not allow play for cash. My code is open for inspection to anyone with credentials to do so.
If the concept interests you then please join my club, 4teamchess International on chess.com I will then assign you to our daily members-only tournament while we grow to the point we can implement the cash awards payouts.
I respect those of you who do not believe chess can be used to earn revenue. If that is your only objection then please respect those that do not think the same as you do. Thanks, I am James Yeatrakas, aka YankeeBastid. My rating hovers around 830.