Canadian Open dates...

[Kerry Liles]

The Quebec Open is charging $105 for my (lower section) with a total prize fund of $10,000 and the Canadian Open fee is $175 with a total prize fund of $20,000+.

Seems fine to me. If anything, the Canadian Open is the better value.

Good point.
It is important to consider the entry fee in the context of the available prize pool for the section. This, of course, is assuming that prize money is a consideration.
Some people are not interested in the prize total or allocation (perhaps because they have little or no chance of winning back any portion of their entry fee) and
for them it is purely a cost for the activity.

[Evan Frangakis]

I noticed that the Canadian Open starts and ends mid-week (July 15-22). This does cause a problem for those who work and must take full-week vacations - forcing them to take two weeks off rather than the expected one. I'm sure this is the first time this has been done. Better was the traditional Saturday-Saturday (or Sunday) with a maximum of one two-game day.

Entry fees of $175-$250? And that's before March 2. As a former Canadian Open regular, numbers like that eliminate me immediately. I know the cost of living is higher in Toronto than in Montreal - but the Quebec Open is less than $100 for the lower sections.

The Quebec Open is charging $105 for my (lower section) with a total prize fund of $10,000 and the Canadian Open fee is $175 with a total prize fund of $20,000+.

Seems fine to me. If anything, the Canadian Open is the better value.

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Brad:

More recently, when I was at the end of my 5 year stretch as a "Voting Member (Then a Governor)", Maurice Smith did a great job totally updating the Handbook to that date (Took him months, I believe).

But then, as always, I believe no one volunteered to be the ongoing Handbook Updater. I believe it then immediately began to descend into irrelevance due to history leaving it way behind.

Maybe someone from the Executive at the time can be more precise on date, and whether my recollection is correct.

Bob A

[Brad Thomson]

The handbook is still in force though it is in great need of updating. At some point a new CFC president will be elected and he will not necessarily be legally or morally bound by the terms of the Handbook. Hopefully we will have a new handbook in place before that happens.

I recall participating in a complete updating of the Handbook in 1996 or thereabouts. I did so in the capacity of a CFC employee with the assistance of Miles Obradovich (spelling?). Has anything taken place since then?

[Hugh Brodie]

Generally - a hall attached to a hotel can be obtained at a discounted (or free) rate if a certain number of hotel rooms are booked by players. Don't organizers want to attract more players (and thus more rooms are booked) with a lower entry fee so to reduce/eliminate the hall rental fee?

[Vlad Drkulec]

It was in the Handbook. But as Vlad is fond of reminding us, the Handbook has no force anymore. More to the point, it was never enforced, it was poorly thought out, and of what use is a unaudited financial statement from someone you are suspicious of?

The handbook is still in force though it is in great need of updating. At some point a new CFC president will be elected and he will not necessarily be legally or morally bound by the terms of the Handbook. Hopefully we will have a new handbook in place before that happens.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Free entry for the 10 GM's and IM's (and the CFC prez?). It looks like a lot of the other players are CYCC players that are sticking around.

Actually I registered for the initial promotion which charged $175 for the entry for the first 50 entries which doesn't seem that far out of line from past tournaments. The CFC presidency and $2.30 gets you an extra large cup of coffee at Tim Horton's in Windsor. Site rental fees can be a challenge in large cities.

I am not worried that the organizer might make too much money. I am worried that the organizer might lose too much money if the tournament is not a success.

[Roger Patterson]

Wasn't this actually (at least at some point) required of all CFC-rated tournaments? I know we did this at our events in Brantford around 2003-2004.

It was in the Handbook. But as Vlad is fond of reminding us, the Handbook has no force anymore. More to the point, it was never enforced, it was poorly thought out, and of what use is a unaudited financial statement from someone you are suspicious of?

[Christopher Mallon]

Agreed. I remember when Doug Burgess and Terry Fleming always had a financial report on the wall before the last round of their Ottawa RA tournaments.

Wasn't this actually (at least at some point) required of all CFC-rated tournaments? I know we did this at our events in Brantford around 2003-2004.

[Tony Boron]

Saskatoon was in my opinion a flop because of their Round schedules. I know 6 players including myself who would have either had to take byes !/2 + 0 pts .Or ask for have non paid holidays.

And you would have been late for your games, as the tourney was perhaps in Regina. :-)

[Alex Ferreira]

Hi,

I am not sure how relevant it is to bring up examples from several decades ago.
The chess world has changed drastically. The world has changed drastically.
Wonderful memories from yesteryear are just that. Memories.
With all the people lamenting, complaining, etc... more ChessTalk?

How many bids were competing for the Canadian Open? Or are there ever competing bids, in recent years?
Where are the organizers? Is everyone getting off their comfy computer chairs wanting to put together a tournament?
Where's the sponsorship? Federal, Provincial, Municipal?

Everyone wants to go to a Canadian Open, in an amazing playing hall, with proximity to all the frills, with GMs playing, norm-chances, good prize fund, free t-shirts, and all the bells and whistles, for $100 entry fee.
Alright. So how do we make this happen? How much do we need to fundraise? Who do we need to approach for sponsorship? Who can give us a site? Who wants to roll up their sleeves and volunteer?

As for the 2020 Canadian Open and its organizers... maybe we should give them a chance to put on the show before being overly critical. Especially without providing alternative bids / options.

Alex Ferreira

[Graham Sorgard]

I am sort of torn on this. I love the idea of a private company putting on a chess tournament. I think US chess has benefitted greatly from the CCA. On the flip side there price escalations are very tough to swallow. Especially when it is really tough to commit to playing until just before the event because of my job (I farm and have a very unpredictable schedule) and I have 3 kids that play and all the sudden we are looking at $1500 in entry fees+ more if they play in the CYCC. Having said all that the more organizers the better.

edit, I wanted to clarify by price escalation I meant the increase in price from early bird to a last minute registration.

[John Brown]

Hugh is 100% correct. This is the Canadian Open not the World Open. We don't need to pay appearance fees
for Foreign players. If they want to play then come and play.
With all due respect to Roger. I do not think that elevate your chess is in this tournament to cut costs to give more prizes , they are out to make money. They really don't care about what is best for players they are looking what is best for them.
Changing the format of the Canadian open to save money is a real lame excuse. If they are trying to save money by changing a format then entry fees should be reasonable not excessive.

[Serge Archambault]

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[Tom O'Donnell]

Thanks for the plug Hugh, but Waldemar Friesen pretty well single handedly managed all aspects of that fantastic event, that featured Abe Yanofsky, Kevin Spraggett and Yasser Seirawan. Professionally directed by Larry Bevand, prior to CMA "fame".

For Sackville in 2001, we thought a good plan was to get 3 GM's that were well known and who would appeal to the general population, and we got Christiansen, Miles, and Spraggett (who eventually withdrew before the start of the event). We drew 169 players to a small University town of about 6,000, having no CFC members to draw players from.

Sackville was really nice. Probably my second favourite Canadian Open after Vancouver 1982.