Results from 24th annual Jack Taylor: Victoria

[Roger Patterson]

23 people attended the 24th annual Jack Taylor - a 15% increase over the last few years and near the record high attendence for this tournament of 24. This was despite the tournament not being CFC rated. The tournament benefited from several Vancouver players desparatly searching for some action plus a visitor from Washington and another from Germany.



Howard Wu won his 2nd in a row Jack Taylor Memorial with 4 wins and 1 bye for 4.5 points worth $75. He managed to bypass the other likely contenders who all self destructed in one way or another.



Tied for Top U1800 were Joe Roback from Vancouver, Jason Cao (who missed an 11th hour draw against Valeria Gansvind), and Ken Foreman: all with 3 points worth $17 each.



Thanks to our TD Mark S. Dutton, IA and all those who participated.



You can see a crosslinked crosstable here: http://victoriachess.com/db/RatingOu...id=3&name=Jack Taylor Memorial

The tournament report is here: http://victoriachessclub.pbworks.com...aylor-Memorial



As regards this tournament not being CFC rated: This tournament is intended to be a low cost entry point for new players (entry fee of $25). The current CFC membership fee structure is not compatible with that goal, effectively close to doubling the cost of the entry fee for new players. Of the 23 players, only 11 were current CFC members, 7 were expired members, and 5 have never been a CFC member. I know of 2 people who did not play because it was not CFC rated and I know of 3-4 who would not have played had it been CFC rated.



A few photos will likely be posted in the next few days as well as a static crosstable.

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Results from 24th annual Jack Taylor: Victoria

A similar situation happened in Vernon this last weekend. For the first time in 27 years the Silverstar Classic was not held. Instead there was a one day active event that had 13 people in attendance. The last Vernon CFC rated event has a total of 4 people. I also believe that the #1 reason for the drop in CFC rated events in BC is because of the new fee schedule. I didn't take a poll of who had CFC memberships, but I would say less than half did. The tournament cost $10 and other than paying for some snacks, the rest was donated to the food bank. Fun was had by all and another event like this will likely take place in January.

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Results from 24th annual Jack Taylor: Victoria

Historically, there have been other ways to deal with the perception of new and returning members that the CFC annual membership fee is a big hit. For example:

1. Offer free tournament entry to those who are joining the CFC for the first time. This method would not have worked at the 2009 Jack Taylor Memorial because it would have wiped out the prize fund.

2. Have a separate, unrated, section where the prizes are: CFC memberships!

3. (now kaput) CFC Tournament memberships.

Dispensing with CFC ratings but having the events rated locally (or BC Ratings or Northwest Ratings) is something we haven't seen since the 1973 rapprochement between the CFC and the BCCF. See CFC Bulletin #2, Jan-Feb 1974, pages 16-18 for the rating remnant of those days.

Even within the lax pre-1974 BC chess scene there was a schism. A breakaway group, with some support in the Delta-New Westminster-Surrey region, called something like the "Lower Mainland Chess Association" had a motto something like "We Play Chess For Fun" and did not have any ratings at all, AFAIR. I never played in any of their events. Bob Zuk did play.

I'm not trying to say that anything is good or bad, just providing a small ancient-historical context. Victoria has gone a bit like Québec vis-à-vis the CFC: some tournaments CFC rated, some tournaments regionally rated only. I'm surprised that it hasn't happened elsewhere and earlier and oftener. Perhaps the elimination by the CFC of its Tournament Memberships was a straw ....

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Results from 24th annual Jack Taylor: Victoria

Many of the first tournaments I ever played in were 4-round in one day events in the Lower Mainland, but were in no way connected with the CFC. I don't remember the proper name of the chess association but I do remember that Mike Potoma directed many of them, as did Gerry Vigier and Derek Lactin, if I recall correctly. I think the tournaments were rated under the Northwest Chess rating system. Mr. Zuk was the very first Master I ever played. A very friendly, helpful guy and extremely strong positional player. By present-day standards he would have been at least strong IM, imo.