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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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Grand Christmas Chess Tournament, Toronto - Sun. Dec. 14: Pre-Registered List:
Re: Grand Christmas Chess Tournament, Toronto - Sun. Dec. 14: Pre-Registered List:
I should pass on one amusing anecdote from my Grade 2 section, Sunday. Prior to the tournament, a father of a Grade 2 child I know quite well from a school I taught at last year asked me if I thought his son scoring his games for the very first time would be wise. Naturally, I opined that it would with the caveat that he should stop scoring if perchance a clock got placed on his board mid-game.
Lol, a clock was never an issue since 4 of his 5 games ended in 4 moves with the all too popular Scholar's Mate. He now has 4 identical score sheets, 2 playing White and 2 playing Black. It never ceases to amaze me how players who know the Scholar's Mate from a White perspective fall for their wont opening from the Black side of the board (:
Here's the offer:
Choose a date convenient for your obvious tournament organizing skills.
I will book the venue, pay for insurance, caretaking, overtime, permits.
You organize the event, from start to finish - by rating, as your obvious skill.
You have my numbers above, to beat. Wager what you wish - I will take all bets.
Here's the offer:
Choose a date convenient for your obvious tournament organizing skills.
I will book the venue, pay for insurance, caretaking, overtime, permits.
You organize the event, from start to finish - by rating, as your obvious skill.
You have my numbers above, to beat. Wager what you wish - I will take all bets.
Your friendly bookmaker:)
Francis, Francis. No one is questioning your organizational skills. One word will suffice. Nonpareil!
But you're perhaps missing my point. I'm endeavouring to work with you, not against you. I'm simply suggesting that more of those same kids will be happier and thus more likely to return and continue to make those numbers grow if you separate the beginners from the intermediate/advanced players. I don't think the latter particularly enjoy playing the former and I know the former don't generally enjoy playing the latter. Imho, it's a no brainer. More kids would be happier in the format I've put forth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we on the same team?
Francis, Francis. No one is questioning your organizational skills. One word will suffice. Nonpareil!
But you're perhaps missing my point. I'm endeavouring to work with you, not against you. I'm simply suggesting that more of those same kids will be happier and thus more likely to return and continue to make those numbers grow if you separate the beginners from the intermediate/advanced players. I don't think the latter particularly enjoy playing the former and I know the former don't generally enjoy playing the latter. Imho, it's a no brainer. More kids would be happier in the format I've put forth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we on the same team?
Dear Jack,
(I'm afraid if I keep repeating "hi jack", ChessTalk will trigger the NSA),
Perhaps, you're missing my point!
i.e. we don't know how to do it, and....you do!
We're waiting for you to show us!
Logistics and all:)
I gather from your email (and the experience of your 'American'
organizer buddies!), it's such a cinch to do it your way, easy as pie.
Same team? I'm not so sure:) You've been making covert enquiries as to
our reasons and functioning, and 'the team' has been having a field day!
"Once more, unto the breach, dear friend, once more......"
"You can't back down now, Show us how!"
Your friendly bookmaker,
(waiting to take your money!)
Re: Grand Christmas Chess Tournament, Toronto - Sun. Dec. 14: Pre-Registered List:
I don't know why you continue to take a facetious approach, Francis, but I'll continue to bang my head against your Shakespearean wall (:
Let me pose one question to you. Have you looked at the return rate of the hordes of first timers you continue to attract through your exceptional marketing skills? I could be wrong, but I suspect that number is not a good one. Small sample size I know, but I had to go through the first dozen first timers from your last tournament to find a single one that returned this past weekend. If that is indeed the case, don't you think you should ask yourself why? Imagine what your numbers could be like if you continued to attract new comers in your wont ways AND retained the preponderance of the previous new growth. I'm sure you would do Pangloss proud (:
Re: Grand Christmas Chess Tournament, Toronto - Sun. Dec. 14: Pre-Registered List:
If I understand you guys correctly, Francis wants to have 8 sections, (almost) regardless of how many players there are. Jack wants to have smaller sections, maybe 12 in all.
Doesn't seem to be worth fighting about.
(Windsor had 273 grade 6 players for our big tournament. Waddya think, one section?)
If I understand you guys correctly, Francis wants to have 8 sections, (almost) regardless of how many players there are. Jack wants to have smaller sections, maybe 12 in all.
Doesn't seem to be worth fighting about.
(Windsor had 273 grade 6 players for our big tournament. Waddya think, one section?)
Tff, John! Ideally, I'd like to have 3 sections per grade, beginner/intermediate/advanced, but I figure I'd take a run at 2 first. Not having much luck in that regard it would seem (:
At my annual scholastic event (approx 1400 players) I aim for sections of about 16-20, with about 25% of players getting a medal. There are usually 40 - 45 sections. It's not any more work to have multiple sections, and more fun for the kids.
I should have posed this query earlier, John. Francis says it would take an extra 60 minutes to run a large (i.e. 200+) tournament by rating rather than grade. My "covert enquiry" to another experienced TD, Omar Shah, opined that the R1 pairings delay would likely be "20-30 minutes". You say "It's not any more work". Why is it no more work for you in Windsor but seemingly a significant amount of extra work here in Toronto? That was the primary reason I backed off a pure ratings themed tournament (which the Toronto Christmas Tournament was promoted as) argument and switched to a hybrid grade/rating system.
I don't know why you continue to take a facetious approach, Francis, but I'll continue to bang my head against your Shakespearean wall (:
Let me pose one question to you. Have you looked at the return rate of the hordes of first timers you continue to attract through your exceptional marketing skills? I could be wrong, but I suspect that number is not a good one. Small sample size I know, but I had to go through the first dozen first timers from your last tournament to find a single one that returned this past weekend. If that is indeed the case, don't you think you should ask yourself why? Imagine what your numbers could be like if you continued to attract new comers in your wont ways AND retained the preponderance of the previous new growth. I'm sure you would do Pangloss proud (:
Let me put it another way -
Have you organized a single tournament ever?
What are your arbiter qualifications vis a vis knowledge
of pairing systems / rating requirements, if any?
If your answer is "none" to the above, don't bother to reply.
Re: Grand Christmas Chess Tournament, Toronto - Sun. Dec. 14: Pre-Registered List:
How many computers/laptops have TAs in these events?
The flyers does not say anything about time control. Do you use clocks? (My kid played long long time ago and I don't recall how was it).
I want to get a better picture why the sections are so large and only 5 rounds.
My 2cts from the AuCC rapid/blitz perspective: they attract 20-40 players (I posted results regularly, and they still available at chess-results). As they are evening events, most of the kids are gone ~9 pm. Thus, we try to make time controls appropriate ~10-15 min to get 5 rounds (and make the special round 6 for who stay longer what makes a life of the TA quite complicated sometimes he-he), with blitz 5 min ~11 rounds or more. For younger kids those time controls 10-15 or 5 are almost the same. They finish fast.
I do most blitz, Graeme rapids. I use my voice, Graeme printer to announce pairings. Both of us don't play if the players' count is odd. To me they seems run smoothly :)
We look at these events as fun with chess. For serious chess there are a long time control going for several weeks. Both types there are players who prefer only one :)
Francis did something really good to increase participation. Toronto and GTA have potential to beat Windsor numbers easily. And that is my wish to Francis and Co for 2015 LOL
I should pass on one amusing anecdote from my Grade 2 section, Sunday. Prior to the tournament, a father of a Grade 2 child I know quite well from a school I taught at last year asked me if I thought his son scoring his games for the very first time would be wise. Naturally, I opined that it would with the caveat that he should stop scoring if perchance a clock got placed on his board mid-game.
Lol, a clock was never an issue since 4 of his 5 games ended in 4 moves with the all too popular Scholar's Mate. He now has 4 identical score sheets, 2 playing White and 2 playing Black. It never ceases to amaze me how players who know the Scholar's Mate from a White perspective fall for their wont opening from the Black side of the board (:
My chess career started because I thought I was good at something. I was the second best player in the school in only Grade 3 because only the two of us knew the 4-move mate. I got destroyed at the city championship.
Francis has done a fantastic job organizing the largest tournaments in Toronto.
I agree with Jack that to come back kids need to get a prize, a sense of accomplishment, being good at something. The two section break will give better games for both both the sharpies and newbies. But then, I've always preferred sections by ratings and see the strong versus beginners, at even the cma Ontario level, a horrendous waste of time. Even the better players need challenging games to learn something. If more TDs are needed, give out a call, I'm available sometimes.
I don't know why you continue to take a facetious approach, Francis, but I'll continue to bang my head against your Shakespearean wall (:
Let me pose one question to you. Have you looked at the return rate of the hordes of first timers you continue to attract through your exceptional marketing skills? I could be wrong, but I suspect that number is not a good one. Small sample size I know, but I had to go through the first dozen first timers from your last tournament to find a single one that returned this past weekend. If that is indeed the case, don't you think you should ask yourself why? Imagine what your numbers could be like if you continued to attract new comers in your wont ways AND retained the preponderance of the previous new growth. I'm sure you would do Pangloss proud (:
I have a larger sample size now and that number is far more dismal than even I imagined, Francis. You had 33 first timers in the U10 Section of your Grand Prix I last month, no doubt enticed by the "$3,500 Prizes!" that they had absolutely no realistic chance of winning. Guess how many showed up last Sunday for their free gift from Santa? Nary a one! A big fat zero for 33! That's about as ugly a stat as I've encountered in some time. Do you find it the least bit troublesome?
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