The Hazards of Sponsoring a Chess Tournament

This past autumn of 2011, HHH Advisors, Inc. sponsored the Lake Shore Division III Tournament here in Chicago and the net result was a disaster beyond all previous estimates. It is far removed from our board to ever consider hosting another tournament again. We had 55 players register and 34 showed up. Our rules stipulated 30/90, all in 60. Over half of the players did not bring clocks and we did not feel it our responsibility to provide them. As a result, many players had to wait until other players finished playing their games to use their clocks. Some were obstinate and refused to lend their clocks to other players. We promised trophies for the winners and runner ups in the professional category 1800+ and the reserve section, under 1500-. The players whose rating were in between complained that we should have had a class for their level. Our directors stated that they would have to choose which level to play at and so many threatened us never to return. Because of the lack of clocks, several players demanded a refund which we denied and emphasized that they had signed a contract prior to entering the tournament. This caused some bitterness and resentment. Other players withdrew since we could not schedule their second round before 10pm the first day. Several parents voiced their anger at our staff. I told them to cool it because I had heard enough complaints by this time. The last part of this fiasco occurred when the reserve runner up accidentally took home the professional division's trophy. Champion Yugi Vashashivili from India was furious that he had spent an entire weekend only to end up without a trophy. We called the player who caused this confusion only to hear a disconnected number. HHH Advisors, Inc. will no longer sponsor the Lakeshore Division III Tournament.

So in other words you made huge mistakes in organising the tournament?

Also, brining your own clocks to tournaments? Thank god that's not the rule in the Netherlands.

What if they held a tournament and nobody showed up?

I think you're being overly critical of our efforts to further the sport of chess. We did the best we could. Have you ever taken a weekend to organize a tournament? I personally let two kids use my own clock. Before you weigh in with the criticism, you really need to give our club credit for trying. Instead of heaping on the cynicism, how about you get involved in your own community and run a tournament?

I would hardly call making mistakes hosting a chess tournament and sharing the experience with my fellow tournament directors "dirty laundry." You seem on the vicious side. We made mistakes by not having enough clocks and in our scheduling procedures. To me, it's better to try and fail then it is to talk about how smart you are without ever trying. Like I said, we did the best we could for the kids. So lay off!

    Sorry your tournament went South. Unfortunately, a number of tournaments fail because of poor turnout. I would suggest that those novice organizers, who try to host a first tournament, associate an experienced director to help with planning and execution. If your event is USCF affilliated, the players will know to bring clocks. New players may not even know a clock is used.

    I suppose a bad first experience will tend to discourage future efforts. Too bad, because chess needs more sponsors. For whatever reason, chess players are not very patient when tournament directors experience difficulties.

What was the point of venting here ? even you said " HHH Advisors, Inc. will no longer sponsor the Lakeshore Division III Tournament."

Humm....

So it was your first tounament?  You made a lot of mistakes.   Of course there were many mistakes on a first try.   I would bet a bottle of Lagavulan that if you chose to run another one, there would be many fewer errors.  Maybe by the forth or fifth, you'd be getting pretty good at it.  I think you folks were very brave to give it a try . 

  I agree that a second try would probably achieve better results.

Sounds like the only thing missing was anvils dropping on everybody's heads.

Ok, so you hosted your first tournament and things went pretty bad. Well, I'm sure that if you sit down now to plan a second tournament you have attained enough experience to make it a successful one. Most of the issues you ran into seem to be by logistics and should be easy to remediate the next time around. Now, as for the clocks issue...you really need to have clocks available the next time around.

I feel for you. Too bad I could no have been near you to help out. When I ran my first tournament I was so afraid. With the Swiss Sis Program It was a walk in the park.

I live in California. I have run kids tournaments. I have access to 30 chess set with vynil boards and 30 clocks. Of all the sixty players, 10 brought their own clocks. When I run one I set a total time of 40 total per game. With no amount of moves.

Most of the tournaments players are beginners. I test them each before I assign them to a group. I have a red group and a blue group.

I also run a 5 min speed chess with 5 rounds in between the regular tournament.

With the swiss six program and It is really sweet and fast. I have them play five games in one day. Including a playoff if needed.

Starting time 10:30 am and done by 5 pm. Sign in at 9 am including testing.

Bye for Missing players. Player leaves, program handles that. Tie breakers the program handles that.

Program prints out next opponents as soon as all the games in each round are finished.

Parent aren't allowed near the chess table area. Food and drink in another room.

So far I haven't had a problem that wasn't able to be solved.

Attached is a photo of one table of the chess players in my tournament.

I really think that if you run another tournament that some of your problems is really organization.

If there aren't clocks make a rule that there will be a start time and a finish time. Where everyone starts at the same time. With an official time keeper, without move number applying.

Make sure you have tournament officials that know and will enforce your rules.

Take each problem you had and make a decission on the best solution. GOOD luck on your next one.

Try starting a smaller one first. Do a practice tournament for some club. Then try a real one of 24 max entries and play all the games the same day. Set the times short. Bye.  Don't give up.

IMHO.

Thank you so much for the kindness and warmth some of you have shared. Years ago, I had a perforated ulcer which I have never fully recovered from. When stress comes upon me, it sometimes flares up and I need to steady myself. Another problem we had during the tournament was I hit my side against the table and I thought I might have been bleeding internally so I was a little distracted. Because I'm on about 225 units of insulin, I need to be quite careful when I move around because I bruise very easily.

Because of your situation it is more imperative that you delegate as many of the jobs to others.

Volunteers seem to come out of the wood work when there is a need.

Bye Have a nice Holiday Season

Denver

Welcome back, Haywood.

you sure of this ? if so I'll kill him!

OP sounds obese and repetitive.

if so I'll then say the f's word for every 5 mins until they close haywoods account. 

If you get bored here, there's always andrewf2002's thread showing how to avoid Scholar's Mate.

Top drawer stuff.