International master George Xie has won today's NSW Rapid play event with an undefeated 7 points. Congrats George. Other leading scores are as follows:
7.0 Xie
5.5 Lewski
5.0 Chan, Berezovski, Faris, Bolens
4.5 Broekhuyse, Ilic, Huynh
Yours truly managed only 3 points. The last game was truly disappointing! I missed a simple enough trick that would have netted a piece. Anyhow, I was just happy to play despite being a whole hour late thereby missing the first round. I was in no rush in the morning actually - just going about my usual routine, reading my paper, drinking coffee, etc. I just knew that the tournament would be late in starting, as usual! Sure enough, it was. Apparently they had to manually enter all the players into Swiss Perfect because the autosearch function didn't work. Consequently there was no lunch break and that still allowed us to finish on time.
Continuing with recent trends, a bad turnout of just 33 players attended the event. This poor number reduced the prize money to about 80% of what was originally advertised.
What can we do to get these attendance numbers back up?
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13 comments:
Low turnouts are due to PERCEPTION.
For years the NSWCA has, against all advice, made prize money dependent upon numbers.
High end players see the prize pool cut on the day a few times and therefore automatically discount the advertised prizes by 33.3% They think, "NSWCA event. They don't pay out. Narrr, give that one a miss."
Then lesser players see fewer top players show up and think, " NSWCA event. They don't pull quality anymore. Narrr, give that one a miss."
Then the numbers shrink further and the event looks anemic. And the small field makes the swiss system behave poorly producing increased strength mismatches pairings.
Then the NSWCA wonders WTF is going on. Well, they know what has happened, but will not admit they they are responsible. It is a visous cycle. The cycle can only be broken by drastic action.
There is only one cure and it will be financially painful. Run all events for three years at a loss and give an garentee on all prizes *regardless* of numbers.
Players want to have confidence in their Association. It is all about PERCEPTION.
There were actually two big junior tournaments running on the same day which would have cut out the junior participation rate not to mention that alot of the local club parramatta players were playing in a poker competition
Matt has the problem right but his solution is wrong.
1. NSWCA should run fewer tournaments but run them better with personal involvement of councillors.
2. Get the clubs actively involved.
3. Listen to what the members are saying.
4. For 2008 start with a clean sheet of paper!
Brian
I dont think they can afford to run tournaments for a 3 year loss Matt,considering how much cash they burned through last year.
Better to just advertise prize money as 80% of entries received.
This way no one feels "cheated",plus it gives stronger players an incentive to actually promote the tournaments they intend to play.
A few NSW players in Gold Coast also
I played yesterday in the NSW Rapid Play. I finished with 3.5/ 7 (including a first round bye).
I had alot of fun and really enjoyed it.
I think the NSWCA doesn't really have any choice but to reduce the prize money when entries are low.
It was somewhat bad organising having the tournament on the same day as other competing junior tournaments.
However I had a good time and look forward to next year.
Prize money has nothing to do with it. Most of the people can't win money anyway. The problem is lacking of interests. Who wants to play the same people over and over again, when there is no surprise?
Looks like the NSWCA continues to be as incompetent and disorganised as ever. Given the parlous state of adult chess in NSW and reliance on juniors to help make up the numbers, scheduling this event on the same day as a major NSWJCL event is just plain stupid. Why couldn't someone from the NSWCA have spent a few minutes testing the laptop the day before to make sure all was in order instead of wasting players time? Why can't the NSWCA properly market and promote its events? I could go on and on in this vein, but what is the point? Rather I will try to be constructive and make some obvious suggestions as to how to get tournament numbers back up, even though I know it will not make the NSWCA change its incompetent ways.
1) Get sponsorship. If Brian Jones can get sponsorship for his tournaments and Jason Lyons could get sponsorship for the 2004 Olympiad team, then why can't the NSWCA get sponsorship for at least some of its events? Getting sponsorship would mean reduced entry fees and better prizemoney which would obviously attract more players.
2) The NSWCA needs to promote and report on its events in a professional manner. As we all know their website and newsletter and tournament flyers and so on are a joke and an embarrassment to NSW chess.
3) The NSWCA needs to take urgent action on the parlous state of NSW adult chess. It is not just weekend tournaments that are in crisis, but so is club chess. Yet instead the NSWCA plays the fiddle while Rome literally burns.
The Rooty Hill Rapid this coming Saturday (June30) is a different one. The organizer came up with an sponsor Diaz Foundation to top up the prizes for all five divisions.
For more info visit http://www.rootyhillchess.org/rhor07.html
Brian Jones to join the NSWCA council?
Looks like Brian has enough on his plate without having to tackle the entrenched problems of the NSWCA.
'Looks like Brian has enough on his plate without having to tackle the entrenched problems of the NSWCA.'
You can all talk big and suggest ideas, yet none of you will step up to the plate.
Well done son
Anon: You can all talk big and suggest ideas, yet none of you will step up to the plate.
Show me the plate and hand me the bat.
The first things I would hit out of the park are a few heads like tenis balls. Deaf dumb and hollow they have only one trick - spin.
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