21-03-2014, 04:17 PM
Andy Howie Wrote:andyburnett Wrote:RICHARDSON-8 teams (of 6 or 8 players, preferably 8)
-2 groups of 4 (=3 matches per team)
-top 2 from each group into semis
-central venue for semis and final (semis on Saturday/ final on Sunday, 3rd/4th play-off also on Sunday)
-(max = 5 games per season)
-FIDE rated, 1 game per day, 40 in 2 hours + 30 allegro (or equivalent increment control)
-Live boards for finals, live commentary also (I'll do it if not playing!) [This is our 'sponsorship selling point' - sponsorship covers venue costs over 'final' weekend.]
-both finalists get Euro Club Cup spot
SPENS CUP
-as above as far as possible
FIDE rated would be practically impossible unless we used a central venue or have a massive increase in the number of arbiters due to the new rules on FIDE events
True, but it would be possible to FIDE-rate the 'finals weekend' in my version of the competition - which would be something at least?!
As for which 8 clubs would populate the Richardson, perhaps the 8 which got through the 1st round this year? Perhaps there are other ways to decide this (average rating/results from 2014/2015 and implement the new system the following year/etc?).
As for new teams...hmmm, not sure...but I'm guessing it would be unlikely that any new team would be of a competitive standard in the Richardson? (Of course, the National League has shown this isn't always the case, but at least in the Richardson/Spens any new team would only have to wait/win one season as opposed to 3 seasons in the National League before they reach their 'correct' level).
I disagree with Andy M (really?-ed.) that the status quo should remain. There is always scope for improvement. Stagnation has already killed off lots of competitions and it's great that Keith Rose is so open to ideas/suggestions/discussion.