19-07-2016, 11:41 PM
The lack of norms at the Scottish could also be the fact that it's not strong enough at the lower end (this year in the middle as well), and Scottish players are bad value for that purpose in terms of relative strength to rating. One option as Andy B says is to have a cut-off, say >2100 at the least. I'm no mathematician but if you face a 1900 in round 1 or when you lose or draw then it's an uphill struggle from there. Hard to see how this could be workable though.
I most certainly am not a norm-seeker. The phrase makes me cringe. Personally, winning tournaments is a much more interesting and clear goal and the Scottish provides that in its present format ; ).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a stronger Scottish for the purposes of norms but some tweaking of the format could be considered. (I'd love to see a round robin alongside the open. That way you get full value for the expenses paid to the invited players as they play everyone, but no doubt this is not financially viable).
I most certainly am not a norm-seeker. The phrase makes me cringe. Personally, winning tournaments is a much more interesting and clear goal and the Scottish provides that in its present format ; ).
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a stronger Scottish for the purposes of norms but some tweaking of the format could be considered. (I'd love to see a round robin alongside the open. That way you get full value for the expenses paid to the invited players as they play everyone, but no doubt this is not financially viable).