17-06-2015, 07:12 PM
Adam Bremner Wrote:...I have done some analysis on the Richardson this year. In the quarter finals, of the 60 players who played a game, only 31 had played at least one Scottish congress this year. Several of those 31 (I guess myself included) have only managed 1, and those tend to be players playing their local congress only. Now as soon as you go to something requiring weekend commitment on a particular weekend at a defined venue, I guess you will knock out most of those players, for the same reasons they currently don't play congresses. ..
How many of those not playing congresses do play 4NCL? I think there is a group of players in Scotland who play most of their chess outside Scotland. Presumably this is because they feel CS has little to offer them on the domestic scene. What's particularly unfortunate is these guys are generally the best payers in the country or those who aspire to be. They do turn out for Richardson maybe because of a nostalgia for the tradition of the event or because it's only a couple of games max and played at a generous time control against peers. Who knows? What is for sure is this is only place it happens. Personally I think we should try keep it happening to get these guys visible even if just occasionally.
I'll leave it to others to setup the polls on the Spens. Of course Craig's idea straddles both events but based on the feedback on this board it is a not less popular as the existing setup.