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I was wondering why there are two tournaments taking place in Markham the same weekend. Is one meant to attract kids, and the other adults?
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Hi Hugh,
All adults / all ages.
In the GTA this weekend there are at least 4 events, one of them is kids-only:
1. Markham Chess Club - New Year tournament - January 3-4-5
2. Chess4Win - Markham Open - January 3-4-5
3. AFM 1st Peel Amateur Championship - Jan 4 (single day, but 50/10 time control, technical classical / standard)
4. Knights of Chess - Jan 5 - single day - for Juniors only
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There used to be a time when organizers would avoid conflict, since everyone ends up losing out during a conflict, in theory.
But that was pre-covid, or even longer ago. I don't think anyone is trying to conflict with anyone else, the principle still applies. At different times over the past few years / decades, sometimes clubs and organizers are in tune with one another other, collaborating and working together so that everyone can be successful, and at other times there's competition.
With that said, leading up to covid, chess was slowly on the rise. Covid made it explode, in the GTA at least. Interest for chess has sky-rocketed, and that was very evident not just by (recent) record highs, but also by the number of new, first-time tournament players that came out to play OTB chess. Within a couple of years, organizers, clubs, initiatives have popped up all over the place, to fill that demand for chess. And here we have it. It was not that long ago that Toronto was a bit of a "black-hole" for chess. I remember well having to travel to Ottawa, Kitchener, Guelph, etc... to play in weekenders because not much was happening in Toronto.
Those were the times when, an organizer would look at the schedule of planned events, and have to only avoid one or two weekends a year. We'd even avoid the weekends before-and-after an existing event, as most players would perhaps not want to play in tournaments in back-to-back weekends. That's changed. The demographic is younger, everything is faster, and there are more and more chess players. Some chess players play every weekend. It's a choice, made possible because all these events exist.
What hasn't changed or, has changed for the worst, is finding suitable venues for tournaments. Most venues now have a somewhat restricted capacity, they couldn't hold 200-300 players, like back-in-the-day, during the Fischer-boom, big hotel ballrooms used to have.
For organizers now, looking at the upcoming schedule, it's hard finding a weekend that doesn't have something already happening, in the GTA. And maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe these can co-exist. Maybe some sites cannot accommodate everyone, so having "conflicting" tournaments isn't as big a conflict, if they both fill-up. Or get the numbers to justify the expenses, at least, while providing the experience.
This is a phenomenal time for chess in Toronto. Plenty of organizers, plenty of options, something or many things every weekend. One can call it competition, but I think it's great. If there was only one organizer, one venue, one club... the tendency for it to become stale or have low/limited standards would be a very likely one. More clubs, more organizers, fantastic. Everyone will have SOME good ideas on how to make their product / event attractive, and the whole community can benefit from it, and raise the standards. And standards are completely subjective. Not everyone wants the big tournament hall, the strict rules, the spotlight or this or that. Chess if flourishing in Toronto everywhere. At the big hall, at the church, at the park, at the mall, at the pub, at the cafeteria, at a school, and it's working great!
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I suspect one day we may look back and wish we could do it again. There doesn't seem to be conscientious effort for what's taking place, certainly not well-coordinated, but it's working. Hard to think of a better time for chess players in Toronto than right now.
Alex Ferreira -
Well said AlexComment
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