Millionare Chess Tournament in Las Vegas at October 2014

johnmusacha I'm entered in the tournament. TheRocketKing it's 6 months before the tournament. This is probably the highest number ever entered in a Chess Open this far in advance, or close. There's no sign at all whatsoever of this thin turnout you're babbling about?!

@Jonesmurphy, that's awesome!  I'm thinking about going myself.  Vegas is a great town.  What's the buy in?  A grand?

@jonesmurphy

You have a good point.  Two weeks ago, I checked on the Philadelphia Open.  It had somewhere between 100 and 200 advanced entries (I don't remember the exact number, but at the time, it seemed low for a tournament that was just around the corner).  The tournament is being played this weekend, and it has about 500 players.

The World Open, which is two months away, currently has 60 entries.  Looks as if most players sign up at the last minute.

sandbagging time ?:D

There are a few things that will minimize sandbagging:  the USCF's rating floor; the use of a player's highest rating in the past 12 months, and unrated and provisionally rated players must play in the Open Section.  These won't totally prevent sandbagging, but they make it more difficult.

Too late for this I think.

unless a certain person has been sandbaggin for more than 12 months. seriously, this event has 40,000$ for each class section winner, it will be pretty easy to win the U1400 rated section if sandbaggin for a long time, I am sure someone will find a way .

There are people that have been sandbagging for their entire tournament careers, sometimes underperforming year after year as far back as the 1970's, just waiting for the moment to strike in a high-stakes tournament as this Las Vegas event sponsored by the mysterious French billionaire Monsieur Guy Gadbois.

These long term sandbaggers have maintained official ratings in the 1000-1100 range for years, whilst having an actual playing strength of near-Master.  In the Chess world they are known as "sleepers."

Didn't say it couldn't be done.  Just that it's been made more difficult.

Frankly, as an <1400, I'd be more concerned about rapidly improving juniors than sandbaggers.  I've been beaten by several who, when I play them, are rated 300 points lower than I am.  When the next rating supplement is issued, they are rated 200 points higher than I am.

Agreed woton, the most worrisome opponents to me are the young kids being fed a tasty diet of chessbase and online play. Aging pot-bellied long-term sandbaggers cannot compete with that.

I'm more than sure their has been leaked information about this tournament for years, allowing all the insiders to have time to sandbag their ratings to play in a lower rated  section.

Kasparov_Jr the tournament was announced only one year in advance.

exactly....I am pretty sure the idea of this tournament has been in circulation for years for something this big.

I'm sure certain people who have connections to the one's running the tournament were given inside information on the notice so they can sandbag before the 12 months as told

With the implementation of the USCF's rating floor (an anti-sandbagging measure), US players will find it hard to sandbag for a specific tournament, they have to lose big in every tournament that they play in from day one.

The floor is approximately 200 points lower than their highest rating.  If you had an 1800 trying to sandbag to enter the <1400 section, he would be out of luck.  His floor would be 1600, and he would have to enter the <1800 section.  A drop of one section doesn't give him a significant advantage in the lower section. 

Kasparov Jr you're just desperately concocting wild fantasies based ONLY on prejudice to attack Maurice Ashley's reputation and character with absolutely no basis in fact. Here's an example of what you're doing: "I'm sure KasparovJr is a pedophile because his sentence structure tells me he is connected to pedophile rings"

Well what say you, to the scenario described above in post nr. 372?

The scenario in post 372.  Highly unlikely.  In order to become an expert player, you have to play expert players, and beat them.  They won't play you if you rating is 1000-1100.

lmao?? how did we go from sandbagging accusations to attacking Maurice Ashley???

all I'm saying is with a tournament like this where 1st place in each section gets 40,000$ there is bound to be many sandbaggers. People have known about this tournament for a long time, and have been sandbagging before the 12 month cutoff limit to reach a lower rating. 

Kasporov_Jr 

lmao?? how did we go from sandbagging accusations to attacking Maurice Ashley??? 

I'm seeing a predictable pattern. In some peoples minds everyone should bow down & grovel to certain people & never have a dissenting opinion or else you're called this or that in an effort to cast aspersions to make people bow down in agreement. 

Bow down now. Everyone agree & think alike, okay?

Possibly say you're a pedophile? I'm just guessing of course. Who knows? Hahaha................ Oh, you could get called prejudiced too. That old worn out trick/con game........... like the boy who cried wolf too many times.

Also, there are players like the ones described in post 372 out there. I wouldn't say they're deliberately sandbagging long term it's just that they have gone very long periods with out bothering to play tournaments but are studying & playing (here & there, not constantly). They just have lives outside of tournament chess but could be coaxed into it if the right tournament popped up. I think 1000 points under rated is a bit much but I'm sure players being under rated by about 600-700 is deinitely possible & quite probable in this tournament.