23-04-2016, 08:20 PM
I haven't played Largs before and the prizemooney is certainly a tempting aspect of the event. Many of the top Scottish players will be on Olympiad duty, but I'm sure those who missed out will welcome the chance to play for a hopefully very decent prizefund at the top - the 2nd section also looks good in that respect.
I can't remember wwhich came first; the drop-off in player numbers or the decline in prizefunds?! I do know that the Glenrothes Congress tried to have big prizes for a while to attract more entrants, but rising costs of the venue and only a small increase in numbers meant it wasn't viable to have big prizes in the long-term (although for a few years we had very kind sponsors which helped out quite a lot financially.)
Not sure if I will be in the country when Largs is on, but I hope I can make it. I wanted to play David C's SCT events and was glad I managed to play Ayr last year and Perth this year - good venues are one of the biggest attractions for me these days (20 years of school halls wore a bit thin about 2 years into it!)
FIDE rating the Open would make it more attractive to me - would be interesting to know the general consensus on this though?!
I can't remember wwhich came first; the drop-off in player numbers or the decline in prizefunds?! I do know that the Glenrothes Congress tried to have big prizes for a while to attract more entrants, but rising costs of the venue and only a small increase in numbers meant it wasn't viable to have big prizes in the long-term (although for a few years we had very kind sponsors which helped out quite a lot financially.)
Not sure if I will be in the country when Largs is on, but I hope I can make it. I wanted to play David C's SCT events and was glad I managed to play Ayr last year and Perth this year - good venues are one of the biggest attractions for me these days (20 years of school halls wore a bit thin about 2 years into it!)
FIDE rating the Open would make it more attractive to me - would be interesting to know the general consensus on this though?!