2020 Chess Championships 2017/18!

[2020Chess]

Hi all,

Next season we are hoping to run another team rapid-play tournament in Scotland, you can see details of the last one we held here:

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?...204th.docx

https://www.chessscotland.com/forum/show...p?tid=1533

Last time we got several universities and a couple of club sides, so we are hoping to build on our success going forward. With that in mind we'd like to ask whether people have any comments/suggestions on when it'd be ideal to take place and where, then hopefully we can come to an arrangement where everyone is able to participate!  

Any questions do let me know, and have a look at our website www.2020chess.com !  

Peter Hornsby

Founder and Director of 2020 Chess

[Jonathan Livingstone]

Hi Peter, I enjoyed the last event and there is something good to build on from last year. I think the biggest single issue however was that it was not graded. Do you have plans to grade it this time? I vaguely remember discussing it with you but can't quite remember what the reasons were now.

The Chess Scotland grading chief is always very helpful, and I am sure if you needed someone to do the grading bit, an area grader (myself included) could happily assist. If your grading it, then I'd enter a team from my club.

[2020Chess]

UPDATE:

We're delighted to announce that the Tournament has been confirmed to be taking place on Saturday 11th November 2017 in Edinburgh at Row House EH8 9AJ

All the details can be seen at www.2020chess.com

2.45 Registration and explanation of rules
3.00-3.40 Round One
3.50-4.30 Round Two
4.40-5.20 Round Three
5.30-6.10 Round Four
6.10-6.50 Round Five
7.00-7.15 Prize giving

There will be a £100 first prize for the winners and the event will be graded in accordance to Chess Scotland (subject to entries)

Any questions do let us know on this thread or email us at director@2020chess.com, we look forward to hearing from you!

[Jonathan Livingstone]

Quite a late start, does it have to be so late? Was much earlier last year?

[2020Chess]

Quite a late start, does it have to be so late? Was much earlier last year?

It is a relatively later start, these were the only times the university were willing to give us this time around in a suitable venue. Although we'll finish just after seven there are transport links to go across Scotland that people can make in good time. Compared to last year, considering we don't need there to be a lunch break at this tournament, we will only be finishing just under an hour later so hopefully we can still get plenty of teams!

[Alex Gillies]

What's the criteria for teams?, is it just students? Looks like a good event.

[2020Chess]

What's the criteria for teams?, is it just students? Looks like a good event.

Thanks, there is no criteria for teams, its open to all! You just need to get a group of any four players together.

The format started off as the Northern Universities Chess Championship in 2015 just for students but due to popular demand we've expanded it to clubs and schools many of whom took part in the 2016/17 season (see http://2020chess.com/results.html)

[Jonathan Livingstone]

It was a good event last year, with a good mix of playing levels. There were some super strong teams. There was one team with a 2300 FM on their bottom board, and other similarly strong teams. From memory I recall there were individual prizes for each board and grading prizes maybe I think. The venue/equipment were all very high standard. The reason it was probably not better supported by Scottish clubs was the date got moved from a sensible date to a October holiday date (because of chess politics). I had to cancel my clubs entry because of that and played for my 2nd club instead.

The only downside was that it was not graded, a few non-uni team people who came along said this. Why is the grading subject to entries this time around? It really should be graded and guaranteed as such, people like to play for grading points (even in allegro), and it creates a historical record of all the games. If it is not graded again, it will possibly put off entries (would be a shame), and it would detract from the event. It is probably already on the back foot with the late start.

If I continue to be picky  a Sunday would have been better than a Saturday, as there is more available parking, and cheaper too.

[2020Chess]

It was a good event last year, with a good mix of playing levels. There were some super strong teams. There was one team with a 2300 FM on their bottom board, and other similarly strong teams. From memory I recall there were individual prizes for each board and grading prizes maybe I think. The venue/equipment were all very high standard.

The only downside was that it was not graded, a few non-uni team people who came along said this. Why is the grading subject to entries this time around? It really should be graded and guaranteed as such, people like to play for grading points (even in allegro), and it creates a historical record of all the games. If it is not graded again, it will possibly put off entries (would be a shame), and it would detract from the event. It is probably already on the back foot with the late start.

If I continue to be picky  a Sunday would have been better than a Saturday, as there is more available parking, and cheaper too.

To explain the reasoning, last time we had 40 people but 32 of them were students who don't mind whether its graded or not and will turn up regardless. You're right that the 8 club players from Wandering Dragons including yourself prefer it to be graded, however if we had done that last year it would have incurred a cost of £60 on us which would have brought about a loss (so we thought)

If this year we get just two extra clubs in as a result of grading that's an 'extra' £80 in entry fees, take off the £60 then leaves £20 minus the extra 8 players grading fee is 8 x £1.5 = £12 then we break even.

For all intends and purposes it can be considered that this event will be guaranteed to be graded as we're confident we can get at least four club sides entering this time around (and will publicly announce as soon as we do), if not refunds will be offered well in advance of the tournament taking place. As for it being a Saturday, students much prefer that day due to transport links and the fact that they typically (myself included!) leave their work for the next week to do on a Sunday to prepare for classes on Monday

[2020Chess]

Great news!

We have just agreed a sponsorship deal with the 'Internet Chess Club' (ICC)

They will kindly be providing a free year long membership (RRP $70) for every player scoring 4/5 or more, as well as for each team player that finishes in the top three positions at the Edinburgh 2020 Chess qualifier.

To see more details about the ICC have a look at : https://store.chessclub.com/memberships/...membership