Hamilton Winter Open 2010

[Garvin Nunes]

The Hamilton City Chess Club is proud to present this year's Hamilton Winter Open which will take place on March 13-14.


IMPROVED ACCOMMODATIONS
In addition to two playing halls, we have 2 very nice board room lounges as our skittles rooms and we are across the street from a shopping center and food court.


TITLED PLAYERS
Titled players should email me ASAP for a major discount. The deadline for title player discounts is Feb 20.


OTHER DISCOUNTS
Everyone else is also eligible for a pre registration discount if you send in your request to play asap.


FLOATERS NEEDED!
If you are feeling a little rusty and want to play for VERY CHEAP please contact me about playing as a floater. What this means is you can come and hang out at the tournament and just play when there is an odd number of players. Typically a floater will play half the games.


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Tournament Details
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5 Round Weekend Swiss - Mar 13th & 14th

LOCATION
Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
100 Main St West
Hamilton, Ontario
Parking & entrance behind the building, enter off Bay St. between King & Main
Please Confirm Your Registration Saturday Mar 13 at 9:00 am – cash only.

SCHEDULE
Saturday - 9:30 am, 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm
Sunday - 11:00 am and 3:30 pm
Round Times Begin as scheduled or ASAP

SECTIONS
This tournament will have 3 sections:
Open, U1900 and Juniors (15 and under + U1650)
Open and U1900 will play for cash prizes. Juniors will play for trophies
All Juniors who play round 5 get a cool competitors ribbon!

FEES AND PRIZES
Entry Fee: Open and U1900 $45.00
Juniors $15.00
prizes based on entries. prize fund of Summer Open 09 was about $1400

DISCOUNTS
Email us by Mar 12 to receive $5.00 discount
Titled Players who commit to playing by Feb 20 will receive major discount
When you pre-register please tell us what section you want to play in!

RULES/GUIDELINES
Time Control: All Games 80 minutes with a 30 second Increment
Open and U1900 Sections Require CFC membership
Juniors do not require CFC membership but CFC rules (e.g. recording moves) still apply
Bring Chess sets, Boards & clocks--no computers on site
Please turn off your cell phones
Parents will not be allowed in junior playing hall

CONTACT
Email your questions to: chesshamilton@gmail.com
Or visit http://chess.servegame.com/Hamilton for information updates

Organizers: Garvin Nunes, Bob Gillanders, Joe Ellis, Gordon Gooding, Mikhail Egorov

This is a SWOCL grand prix event

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Dang, you are holding your Winter Open on the same weekend as we are holding our Spring Open! Is there any chance that your dates could change, or no chance at all?

Thanks and regards, Aris (Ottawa area Organizer/TD)

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Dang, you are holding your Winter Open on the same weekend as we are holding our Spring Open! Is there any chance that your dates could change, or no chance at all?

Thanks and regards, Aris (Ottawa area Organizer/TD)

Yeah, but I think Hamilton and Ottawa are pretty far apart, no?

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Yeah, but I think Hamilton and Ottawa are pretty far apart, no?

Well, I usually get 1 GM and 1 or more IMs from the Toronto region, by offering them FREE REGISTRATION! My concern is that the Toronto pool is between Ottawa and Hamilton. In fact, I believe the major Ontario weekenders should avoid each other, which is why I moved the RA Winter Open several weeks to avoid Hal's February event.

Thinking bigger, I would love it if the 3 big Ontario regions could once and for all both establish and follow a good mechanism to avoid conflicts. Did the OCA ever do this?! ;)

[John Brown]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi Aris;
I enjoyed the Ontario Open last Year in Ottawa but Hamilton is less expensive for me. Now if you were to offer more discounts for long haul travellers then you might get some more. For me if my schedule is right I'll try and make Hamilton.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Dang, you are holding your Winter Open on the same weekend as we are holding our Spring Open! Is there any chance that your dates could change, or no chance at all?

Thanks and regards, Aris (Ottawa area Organizer/TD)

Sorry Aris. :( Rooms are booked.

We do coordinate schedules within SWOCL to avoid conflicts, and we keep an eye on conflicts with Toronto. Fortunately, that already is a juggling act. EOCA also?

We will keep you in mind going forward.:)

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Sorry Aris. :( Rooms are booked.

We do coordinate schedules within SWOCL to avoid conflicts, and we keep an eye on conflicts with Toronto. Fortunately, that already is a juggling act. EOCA also?

We will keep you in mind going forward.:)

That was more or less my point (apologies to Aris for appearing flippant) - there are only so many weekends (far less if you are looking for a long weekend of course) and conflicts can only be accommodated up to a point. I would think getting GMs or IMs from the GTA to Ottawa or Montreal would be a bonus at any time (considering the huge difference between playing locally and anything involving travel. Of course, if an organizer offers to defray travel costs as well as free entry, that is a whole different level ...

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi Aris;
I enjoyed the Ontario Open last Year in Ottawa but Hamilton is less expensive for me. Now if you were to offer more discounts for long haul travellers then you might get some more. For me if my schedule is right I'll try and make Hamilton.

Hi John, I understand that Hamilton would be less expensive for you, but that is kind of my point. If you had been considering coming to Ottawa that weekend, well Hamilton would make sense to you as an alternative. This is of course irrelevant for people from the Toronto area who would not even consider coming to Ottawa. But for those who might, an event in Hamilton might keep some of them closer to home. Your personal decision-making makes total sense to me, but I will keep trying to entice out-of-towners!

Regarding your point about discounts, with my latest pricing structure, someone from the Toronto area could play for as little as $35, and I found local discount lodging. The early registration discount is currently $15, and I think I will probably raise it to $20 for the March event, and keep free registrations for any GM or IM who also registers early.

Would you have any other ideas on discounts? I don't know how to get lower than this?

Thanks and regards, Aris (Ottawa Organizer/TD)

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Sorry Aris. :( Rooms are booked.

We do coordinate schedules within SWOCL to avoid conflicts, and we keep an eye on conflicts with Toronto. Fortunately, that already is a juggling act. EOCA also?

We will keep you in mind going forward.:)

Hi Bob, actually, I (and some others I discussed this with over the years) believe that all 3 of the major Ontario groups should coordinate the timings of their more official events.

At EOCA, we specifically check the latest version we can find of the SWOCL and GTCL calendars to avoid their key weekends. Sometimes, we miss stuff, like Hal's event in February, so when we found out about that, we changed our schedule again. This is done not just in the hope of getting more out-of-town players to Ottawa, but also because some really keen Ottawa players would like to consider going to events in Toronto, etc., but that wouldn't work if there was an Ottawa event at the same time.

If you're locked into March 13th-14th, I'm going to try and move the RA Spring Open. That might be impossible at this point, but I feel it is the right thing to do. Before I do :

Any Organizer/TD out there: ARE THERE ANY OTHER POTENTIAL MARCH CONFLICTS?!

Finally, Bob, the EOCA normally posts their schedule by August. What would be the best way to highlight that proposed schedule to SWOCL and GTCL? I'm not saying that EOCA dates are untouchable, but rather that the earlier the EOCA hears from SWOCL/GTCL that there is a date conflict, it gives us a better chance to move, compromise, etc.

Thanks again, and best regards, Aris (EOCA President)

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

That was more or less my point (apologies to Aris for appearing flippant) - there are only so many weekends (far less if you are looking for a long weekend of course) and conflicts can only be accommodated up to a point. I would think getting GMs or IMs from the GTA to Ottawa or Montreal would be a bonus at any time (considering the huge difference between playing locally and anything involving travel. Of course, if an organizer offers to defray travel costs as well as free entry, that is a whole different level ...

Hi Kerry, no offense taken, I felt you were just telling it like it is. As alluded to in another post I replied to Bob, one of the special reasons we try and avoid conflicts is actually for very keen Ottawa players who might consider travelling to an event if it did not conflict with a local event. Some of us feel that those keen players are the ones who should be accommodated the most, but that's a whole other philosophical discussion! ;)

Back to the holy SWOCL-GTCL-EOCA triumvirate, I realize that it would be more effort, but I do believe that we can coordinate at least our key events, like our own Grand Prix schedules. Some people feel this would be better for both players and Organizers/TDs.

Finally, regarding GMs and IMs coming to Ottawa, the following information is off the top of my head, but should be largely accurate. In a nutshell, except for the weekend that I accidentally conflicted with Trois-Rivieres, GM Bator has been pretty regularly coming to Ottawa for my events, and then I usually get at least one travelling IM, like Artiom, or more infrequently, Brian, Leonid, etc. We cannot afford appearance fees, or anything like that, but we try and help them find someone to stay with, work for a decent prize fund, etc. Most tangibly, we have settled on completely free registration for GMs/IMs.

Anyway, we love out-of-towners at Ottawa events, and I will keep striving for that! :)

I wish the Hamilton event all the best, and will painfully try to move the RA Spring Open.

Any Organizer/TD out there: ARE THERE ANY OTHER POTENTIAL MARCH CONFLICTS?!

[John Brown]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi Aris;

Personally I love Ottawa but in the warmer months ;-).

I think between the GTCL, SWOCL and the Eastern Chess Association
we could make some concessions but all of us would have to agree on it long before the year happens. ie if we gave Ottawa say the first year to post then the others could talk and take the next dates available. In year 2 SWOCL could post first and then GTCL takes next dates then in 3 year GTCL posts first. We know the weekends that can be available and I'm sure all bookings like return business. So if we could cement weekends for specific tournaments that would be fantastic. But can it happen? I'd doubt it. All TD's have there own egos to satisfy.

It can be done with cooperation.
Now if for example Guelph has a cemented first weekend in Feb then give it to them. It's usually Super Bowl weekend anyway. The other dates could be negotiated on. Niagara Falls Open is always in late March or April.

As for your discounts they sound great but it might be better if they were posted long before the events and written in stone so anyone going to Ottawa knows the score on prices etc. so we all have time to choose.

I've known some of the people at Hamilton Club for decades so my sway would be to Hamilton regardless. Don't get me wrong your site at the RA Centre is great and if I get enough time off I will return, but in the warmer months. I don't drive so if I go alone I have the train fare as well to consider.

Well maybe we will all have two great events and we can say We had a Great Time let's do it again.

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi again Bob, I am succeeding in moving the RA Spring Open to another weekend, and I will post more details after the RA Winter Open this weekend. I think this will work out!

In addition, my last question from my previous post still stands. Input is very welcome :
"Bob, the EOCA normally posts their schedule by August. What would be the best way to highlight that proposed schedule to SWOCL and GTCL? I'm not saying that EOCA dates are untouchable, but rather that the earlier the EOCA hears from SWOCL/GTCL that there is a date conflict, it gives us a better chance to move, compromise, etc.
Thanks again, and best regards, Aris (EOCA President)"

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi again Bob, I am succeeding in moving the RA Spring Open to another weekend, and I will post more details after the RA Winter Open this weekend. I think this will work out!

In addition, my last question from my previous post still stands. Input is very welcome :
"Bob, the EOCA normally posts their schedule by August. What would be the best way to highlight that proposed schedule to SWOCL and GTCL? I'm not saying that EOCA dates are untouchable, but rather that the earlier the EOCA hears from SWOCL/GTCL that there is a date conflict, it gives us a better chance to move, compromise, etc.
Thanks again, and best regards, Aris (EOCA President)"

Hi Aris, sorry, got distracted by non chess stuff, :)

We have a new SWOCL website, http://chess.servegame.com/swocl/news.php

with a schedule of events. Unfortunately, not a lot of traffic yet!, and TD's are not accustomed to listing there yet, and not everyone plans their events out for a whole year, and yadda yadda ya. ;) :D

I do see another conflict. :o
April 10-11 Niagara Falls and Morrisburg.

I will email John Erickson and advise him of the conflict.

It was great you were able to move the RA Spring Open. One of these days I'll make it back to Ottawa for another tourny. I always enjoyed my visits to RA club. Best of luck.

ps. I just tested the link to SWOCL website, and uggrrr... all the details are gone. what now? Just goes to show you, if it ain't something, it's something else. :)

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Hi Aris, sorry, got distracted by non chess stuff, :)

We have a new SWOCL website, http://chess.servegame.com/swocl/news.php

with a schedule of events. Unfortunately, not a lot of traffic yet!, and TD's are not accustomed to listing there yet, and not everyone plans their events out for a whole year, and yadda yadda ya. ;) :D

I do see another conflict. :o
April 10-11 Niagara Falls and Morrisburg.

I will email John Erickson and advise him of the conflict.

It was great you were able to move the RA Spring Open. One of these days I'll make it back to Ottawa for another tourny. I always enjoyed my visits to RA club. Best of luck.

ps. I just tested the link to SWOCL website, and uggrrr... all the details are gone. what now? Just goes to show you, if it ain't something, it's something else. :)

Good stuff, Bob, just being aware of each other, we'll probably avoid any unnecessary conflicts, and make it better for the most keen of our players. Now, how about GTCL?!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Hamilton Winter Open 2010

Now, how about GTCL?!

These days most of the weekend tournaments in Toronto are organized by Alex Ferreira (he post here from time to time) and Bryan Liamb (as a TD in Alex's tournaments and an organizer for Labour & Thanksgiving).

Known future events in Toronto:
Ontario Open - May 22 - 24
Canadian Open July 10-18

(I think, Alex was mentioning about reading week and Easter tournaments. As the Post-secondary champ is over, he may come with more details soon. )