Hart House Holidays Open

**Alex Ferreira** · Saturday, 29th October, 2016, 09:03 PM

Changes from previous tournaments

Hi,

Please note the following changes from previous editions:

Time Control: 90 minutes + 30 seconds for all sections. Several players requested it, taking into account two rounds on Saturday & Sunday.
Players on-site are welcome to voice their preferences and concerns with me, and if a large enough group of people share the same opinion on time control or any other issue, modifications to future editions of Hart House tournaments are possible.

Round Times: Taking into account the new time control, some changes were made. Round 1 will now start at 6:30pm, with players arriving before 6pm. This will give participants an additional half hour (compared to previous years) to make it to round 1 on Friday evening after their earlier Friday routines. Rounds 3 & 5 will start at 3:30pm, again half hour earlier than previous editions. The slightly faster time control will allow for a more comfortable lunch for those whose games go the full length, and overall shorten the total tournament-day by over one hour.

Discounts: Flat Fee early entry is now $60. The vast majority of discounts were removed. The situation had become such that, 80%+ of the players were eligible for a discount and we were targeting a very small group with "normal" fees. This will also allow us to make more accurate prize fund projections based on number of entries. While I appreciate this change may be unpopular among several players, I hope that the community can appreciate that we continue to provide an entry fee that is very competitive with most other tournaments in the region.

Alex Ferreira

**Egidijus Zeromskis** · Saturday, 29th October, 2016, 10:12 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Please correct the date for >WIMs discount (Feb 12)

**Alex Ferreira** · Saturday, 29th October, 2016, 11:01 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Hi Egis,
Thanks for catching that, I had used an old template. Fixed now.
Alex F.

**Alex Ferreira** · Monday, 28th November, 2016, 02:56 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

*bump*
List of early entries up.
Alex F.

**Marcus Wilker** · Monday, 28th November, 2016, 10:22 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Alex, do you have a flyer we can print for the interested players here?

**Bob Armstrong** · Tuesday, 29th November, 2016, 12:46 AM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Marcus Wilker View Post

Alex, do you have a flyer we can print for the interested players here?

Hi Alex:

Same for Scarborough CC - send me an electronic version, and I'll print some up for our display table.

Bob A

**Mark Biong** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 12:45 AM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post

Hi Alex:

Same for Scarborough CC - send me an electronic version, and I'll print some up for our display table.

Bob A

Are there Team Competition? How about prize fund and distribution based on certain number of players?

**Alex Ferreira** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 01:11 AM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Hi Mark,

The prizes are based on entries... 70% of entries revert into prizes. If the number of players is above 125 I will probably make a team prize as well. We have done this in the past, but if turn-out is lower than normal, the team prize has been the first thing to be cut.

Alex F.

**Mark Biong** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 08:51 AM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Alex Ferreira View Post

Hi Mark,

The prizes are based on entries... 70% of entries revert into prizes. If the number of players is above 125 I will probably make a team prize as well. We have done this in the past, but if turn-out is lower than normal, the team prize has been the first thing to be cut.

Alex F.

Most tournament organizers and directors make prize distributions during tournaments whatever they want to be. What exactly are the actual prizes based on a certain number of players, let just say @ 120 players? Or out of those 70% of entries, how many % goes to the four sections just to get an estimate of player's expectation?

**Egidijus Zeromskis** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 11:50 AM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

several questions:
Byes - are they 1/2 point?
Default time - 1 hour?

**Bob Armstrong** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 02:02 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Alex Ferreira View Post

*bump*
List of early entries up.
Alex F.

To access the Hart House Chess Club website: https://harthousechess.com/%20tournaments/ (Prior URL no longer works).

Alex - there still is no link to a pre-registrations page, as far as I can tell.......did I miss it?

Bob A

**Alex Ferreira** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 07:08 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post

several questions:
Byes - are they 1/2 point?
Default time - 1 hour?

Byes: I think it's on the flyer but I can put it here as well. Maximum 2 (two) 1/2 (half-point) byes in Rounds 1-4 if requested before the start of Round 1. Otherwise will be zero point byes.

Default time remains 1 hour, as per overall Canadian Standards / Practice.

**Alex Ferreira** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 07:11 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Bob Armstrong View Post

To access the Hart House Chess Club website: https://harthousechess.com/%20tournaments/ (Prior URL no longer works).

Alex - there still is no link to a pre-registrations page, as far as I can tell.......did I miss it?

Bob A

Hi Bob,

No you have not. The website doesn't list the pre-registered list and I am not sure that will either. I don't have free access to that site and now that entries are coming in fast, it doesn't make much sense in pestering someone else to update it twice a day.
With that said... I myself update the pre-registered list here on Chesstalk. It's been listed on the first / main post of this thread for over a week, and I keep editing it.

Alex F.

**Alex Ferreira** · Monday, 5th December, 2016, 07:44 PM

Re: Hart House Holidays Open

Originally posted by Mark Biong View Post

Most tournament organizers and directors make prize distributions during tournaments whatever they want to be. What exactly are the actual prizes based on a certain number of players, let just say @ 120 players? Or out of those 70% of entries, how many % goes to the four sections just to get an estimate of player's expectation?

Hi Mark,

I used to have a chart on the flyer with a complete projected prize fund based on entries. I stopped doing it for two reasons: people know what we do and what to expect, and it gave me little lee-way when I needed it. As you mentioned, it's the organizer's discretion and organizers are different in how they do this bit.
With that said, I don't intend to drastically deviate in any way what we've done in the past. One of the reasons why I changed the entry fee to a nearly-flat $60 all the way across by scrapping the majority of the discounts was precisely to more adequately predict the prize fund based on entries.

It would be foolish of me to try to seriously fiddle with what seems to have worked in the past, so players can expect a similar distribution to previous editions of Hart House tournaments.

What players can expect based on what we have done in the past, based on about 120 players (ie approx $5,000):
40-50% of prize fund in Crown Section with $1,000 first prize
No prize ladder or distinction between the other categories, with each having ~15% of the prize fund, with a first prize between $300-400.
Possible team prize: If one is put in place, it will be a flat $400 so each team member can take home $100.
3 prizes in each of the 4 sections.

Why do I also not want to place a rigid chart with a prize fund distribution? Section sizes can vary substantially. It is not uncommon for me to adjust the prize fund slightly based on the size of the section. Some examples that come to mind are... adding a 4th place prize or particularly in the U1600 section, create a sub-rating (ie U1300 prize within U1600 section) that only the lower group is eligible too.

The prize fund is generally posted on the second day of the tournament, on-site. This allows the organizer to breathe and make some calculations based on the pool of players that have turned up to play.

Alex Ferreira

Hart House Holidays Open

Hart House Holidays Open

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