Scottish Winter Chess Festival

[D-Oswald]

With so few norm opportunities in Scotland (usually only the Scottish) I was hopeful of hosting a norm tournament alongside a couple of events for other participants.
For the norm tournament the idea was to hopefully attract three GMs/IMs (some conditions available) and three FMs (free entry) with the other four spaces going to aspiring 2200+ players.

I've drawn up some rough details below and added a poll to try to gauge if there would be interest in the events below... Any comments/suggestions welcome

Scottish Winter Chess Festival

Edinburgh Chess Club

Friday December 27th – Sunday 5th January


Group A – FIDE rated 10 player closed all play all norm tournament

3pm starts each day except New Years Day (rest day)

1st - £500

Group B 1800 and over

3pm start each day except New Years Day (rest day)

10 players – all play all

1st – £400
2nd - £200
GP – £100

Group C 1800 and below

10am start each day except New Years Day (rest day)

1st – £350
2nd – £200
2 x GP – £100 each

A nine round swiss event (20 players maximum).


Entry Fees: £85 for all events

[Patrick McGovern]

good idea but too expensive for me.

[Matthew Turner]

Great idea and I'd definitely be interested.

[D-Oswald]

Pat and Matthew - thanks for your responses.

Pat, yes I understand the price may be off-putting for some.
I was basing it on a similarish price to the Scottish and other nine-round events. I guess the perk here would be that in this you would be more likely to win a prize - for example if you or I entered any other nine round international open the chance of us winning prize money for finishing in the top five are usually very very slim and grading prizes are usually not much more than entry and only if you win it outright! Here 3/10 players win a prize in Group B and 4/20 in Group C and its a lot more realistic you or I could win something in these events than say winning the Scottish champs
So I guess what I'm trying to say is the idea was to make it a competitive price with a more realistic chance of a prize... if you get my drift
But as I said thanks for the feedback!

[Hugh Brechin]

If I've got the time, I'd certainly be very interested in playing in this event. The fee isn't too bad when you remember it's a nine-round tournament, though I suppose I don't have to consider the extra expense of staying in Edinburgh in the festive season.

I should probably move this into Tournaments and Events, but I'm going to take the line that since we're discussing a potential tournament rather than anything that's currently been confirmed it's fine here (also, I'm going out and can't be bothered.)

[andyburnett]

Really interesting idea David

A couple of questions...

-what time-control were you thinking of?

-are the 'norm aspirants' already decided?

Cheers,
Andy

[JMcNicoll]

Too expensive for me, it's in Edinburgh and at that time of year there are a lot of other things for me to be concerned with.

[hamish olson]

Sounds fantastic

[StevieHilton]

I was thinking of going to Hastings, but this sounds better

[Andy Howie]

Please please be aware of this

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook?id=3&view=category">http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook?id=3&view=category</a><!-- m -->

The registration fee is calculated on the following basis:
Tournaments of an average rating of up to 2300 50 Euro
Tournaments of an average rating of 2301 - 2400 100 Euro
Tournaments of an average rating of 2401 - 2500 150 Euro
Tournaments of an average rating of 2501 - 2600: 200 Euro
Tournaments of an average rating above 2601 300 Euro
Swiss Tournaments: Number of players multiplied by 1 Euro
Team Tournaments: 1 Euro per player, no maximum
Matches: according to category above.
Scheveningen Tournaments: shall be charged as team event.

Matches and All Play Alls are lumped together for some reason.

You also need a Titled FIDE Licenced Arbiter and have restrictions on the time controls you can use