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Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - WBuchanan - 15-07-2013
Amazing how a tournament like this can be run with so few hitches - great ‘tournament performance’ from Alex and Andy et al. There was a terrific buzz about the place over the last few days. Great to see the old guard coming to the fore at the end though things might have been different had Alan Tate managed to finish off GM Hera in round 8 to reach 6 out of 8.
I’m not sure how TPRs favour lower rated players as Alan says, perhaps someone can elaborate; in any case, lower or medium rated players are more likely to have played people 400 points or more below their rating, this can render a championship-winning 2400 ‘performance’ virtually impossible. In my own case, according to my calculations I would have needed to score eight and a half out of nine. This would equate to beating the three players rated about 400 lower that I played, and then achieving a TPR of 2570 versus the others in order to score 5.5/6 against them.
A tie break method though having a random effect needn’t necessarily be unfair; however the combination of the mis-named TPR’s and the anomalous effect on the rating system of games with 400 differences does seem to render a fair method impossible.
Aren’t we missing the point; the fundamental idea of a championship is that the champion beats their rivals. Great as the tournament called the Scottish Championship was in other respects, a championship is one thing that it was not. I appreciate this will have been debated before, but perhaps the issue that should be decided first is whether a Championship in the true sense should be run? It is after all part of the constitution.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Alex McFarlane - 15-07-2013
Probably my final reply of the day!!
The top players are more likely to play people 400 points below them if acceleration isn't used. That was one of the reasons for having acceleration. The fact that no bottom half player reached 2/2 did make the third round draw look stupid, though it was effectively a normal round 1 draw with the top half dozen removed.
TPR favours the lower rated player because they are lower rated. Consider A v B where A is lower rated and they draw. A has the better performance because he scored against a higher rated player whereas B scored against the lower rated player. In an all play all in which all the players tie at the end then the TPR would be opposite to their ratings.
A play-off is not fair either unless staged as a separate event. Playing at a reduced time control immediately after the event is not a good idea. You are choosing a winner under different criteria. Also imagine one player has a quick win and his opponent has a long drawn out game. Immediately one player has a significant advantage.
(On a purely personal point we also need to get packed up. Dougie will atest to the fact that the gear used occupied 4 cars at the end of the event. Two of them to overflowing.
For years we had a closed championship. The result was a dead event which was only getting worse. Moving to the Open format revived the event. I accept it is not ideal, but in the absence of companies throwing money our way a closed event is just not viable. The difference in overall costs between a closed Championship and the International Open is very small, especially when increased entries are taken into consideration.
Finally, I hope everyone will again join with me in thanking the anonymous benefactor.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Andy Howie - 15-07-2013
Alex McFarlane Wrote:Finally, I hope everyone will again join with me in thanking the anonymous benefactor.
Hear hear!!!
On a separate note, the weekend grading is now up and after doing the other jobs for the championship I am taking a few days off to recover!
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Alan Tate - 15-07-2013
P Griffin Wrote:Its disappointing to read Mr Tate referring to fellow chess players as 'Bunnies' The
only consolation is if that's typical of top player thinking then relative to the GM's of this
world then that's what he is.
You answered your own question Mr. Griffin. Everything is relative. And if you take a light-hearted reference to this personally then that is your problem not mine.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - andyburnett - 15-07-2013
I would be perfectly happy for a much stronger player to think of me as a 'bunny' but calling me one wouldn't be appreciated :\
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Geoff Chandler - 15-07-2013
Hi
I am chuffed to tea breaks that Roddy won the Scottish only regret not being there to see it.
I would have liked a play-off at a new venue on a diffenrent date. They used to do play-off's.
I recall Kopec-McKay went to a play off in the early 80's.
Danny asked me and Spike Mullen to look at Roddy's games to see if we could find a weakness.
So we looked at his games and came to the conclussion McKay was a genuis.
In the end all we could give Danny was our best wishes and 'Good Luck.'
(Danny won the play-off and nobody was more surprised than us two. )
George asked why the Scottish players were so out-classed.
Computers and coaching George.
This current batch have fallen for the hype and cannot switch off their boxes.
This is why talented players who learned their skill without computers are winning Scottish Championships.
There are no Scottish IM's or GM's under 30 years old. Most are on the wrong side of 40!
Its' proof that computers are doing damage and sucking the creativity out of our players.
I've a good mind to come out of retirement and cheapo their asses back to the chessboard and books.
I think Alan's use of the term 'bunnies' is OK.
He needed a word to describe weaker, less experinced, lower graded players.
At least he did not use 'patzer' a term I never have used and would find insulting.
'Bunnies' is OK. It's polite and I'm sure it did not mean to cause offence.
(I would have used computer influenced zombies.)
Meanwhile I challenged Andrew Murray to come out of hiding and play me at Tennis/Chess....
![[Image: jzvcrp.jpg]](http://i40.tinypic.com/jzvcrp.jpg)
....But he did not show up.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Alan Tate - 15-07-2013
Alex McFarlane Wrote:Probably my final reply of the day!!
A play-off is not fair either unless staged as a separate event. Playing at a reduced time control immediately after the event is not a good idea. You are choosing a winner under different criteria. Also imagine one player has a quick win and his opponent has a long drawn out game. Immediately one player has a significant advantage.
(On a purely personal point we also need to get packed up. Dougie will atest to the fact that the gear used occupied 4 cars at the end of the event. Two of them to overflowing.
For years we had a closed championship. The result was a dead event which was only getting worse. Moving to the Open format revived the event. I accept it is not ideal, but in the absence of companies throwing money our way a closed event is just not viable. The difference in overall costs between a closed Championship and the International Open is very small, especially when increased entries are taken into consideration.
Finally, I hope everyone will again join with me in thanking the anonymous benefactor.
You are choosing a winner where skill actually comes into it, surely this is an improvement!?! At least it's chess that decides the outcome... and exciting chess at that (good for the sponsors - film it, put it up on Youtube... mention the sponsors on the video... stick it on Facebook.... etc.), much like a penalty shoot out in football. I also don't see a problem with a player winning quickly having the advantage, he won quickly after all, seems like a just reward.
In Gibraltar the last round starts a bit earlier, and the playoffs take place as soon as possible, even if there are other games still going on. I should think this would get everyone away at a reasonable time. But hey, what do I know
I was thinking having a closed tournament alongside an open, but if it's not financially viable then there's not much to do..
Thanks to the anonymous benefactor indeed.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Andy Howie - 15-07-2013
andyburnett Wrote:I would be perfectly happy for a much stronger player to think of me as a 'bunny' but calling me one wouldn't be appreciated :\
But bunnies are cuddly and fluffy.. Oh wait (I'll get my coat!)
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - Matthew Turner - 15-07-2013
A couple of thoughts on sponsorship
Geoff Chandler wrote
"There are no Scottish IM's or GM's under 30 years old. Most are on the wrong side of 40!"
That is true and probably doesn't bode particularly well for the Scottish team in ten years' time BUT there are a significant number of twenty somethings who are committed enough to want to spend a week in Andorra playing chess.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.escacsandorra.com/openprev/en_jugadors.php">http://www.escacsandorra.com/openprev/en_jugadors.php</a><!-- m -->
They are your sponsors and organisers of the future, so perhaps the prospects for 2030 are quite encouraging.
Obviously I should add my thanks to the current sponsor. The Championship resulted in some great attacking chess and lots of decisive results, so hopefully the sponsor got what he or she wanted. I did notice an individual who I suspect has a few quid to their name in Helensburgh on one of the days, so perhaps the sponsor even made it to the event. If they did I am sure that they would be suitably impressed.
Re: Scottish Chess Championships 2013 - amuir - 15-07-2013
There are 19 Scots playing in Andorra including the whole Edinburgh Richardson team