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This contest between Mississauga and Scarborough is over who is the biggest club. We never said anything about strength. Scarborough is mostly adults, and Mississauga is mostly kids.
We concede to SCC on the strength issue, since the average Mississauga Club rating (kids and adults combined) is about 700! :p:o:D
So we have bragging rights for the biggest weakest club! :D:D
I may have missed it somewhere, but what is the current paid up membership of the alleged " biggest, weakest " club in Canada, Mississauga CC. I believe we were at about 125 members earlier in the year ( I need to get our Treasurer to update his current records to get an accurate current count, but I know he's really busy at the moment and won't get to it for a bit ). Do you top that?
These bragging rights are most important, when Canada-wide!
And Hugh seems to say that the Montreal CC's way of operating doesn't allow it to really compete with our totals.
So it looks like Mississuaga CC and Scarborough CC are duking it out on this one.
Let me know ( I hope I haven't missed one of your posts on this somewhere ).
Bob A ( of maybe the biggest chess club in Canada )
That's something running events in sections according to rating won't do. It breeds complacency. The strong section participants don't have to play all that hard because they are simply swapping rating points back and forth without having to worry about weaker players they have to beat. The other classes simply play other weak player all the time and are wasting their time.
Gary,
If I understand you correctly, I think I disagree with you. At the Scarborough Chess Club, we run our Swiss tournaments in 3 sections -- U1700, U2000 and 2000+. If you're within 100 rating points of the next section, you can elect to play up.
I actually think the sections have been good for fostering an environment of competitive chess. Young players who are new to the game start out in the U1700 section. They get to sharpen their teeth by playing players like me (my rating bounces around in the 1500 to 1700 range depending how busy my life is). After accumulating experience, the more talented players move into the U2000 section. Sometimes their progress will be steady. Sometimes they'll bounce back and forth between U1700 and U2000. But ultimately the good young players climb through the sections.
Older players (i.e. non-juniors with many years of chess) in the U1700 will sometimes put on a push to get into the U2000 section. Sometimes that works out well and settle into the U2000 section but more often than not they end up going 0 for 8 or 1 for 8 and fall back down to U1700.
We have a number of players in our U2000 section who I can remember not that long ago triumphing over in the U1700. They're now challenging for the lead in the U2000. They would eat me alive if I played them now.
The ascension of good young players through the ranks definitely keeps things fresh for the veterans. Providing levels to proceed through also provides motivation. And you have to stay sharp unless you want to end up kicked down to a lower level.
We introduced sections to avoid situation where a 2200 player was playing an 1100 player. It was no fun for either party. I think we now have a system where that 1100 player will play the 2200 player but it might take 3 or 4 years for the 1100 player to get there.
Players can't really complain about what section they're in. If you don't like the section you are in the remedy is simple: start winning some games.
I think we have a system that works pretty well. Everyone shows up on Thursday with a reasonable expectation of having a game that really challenges them.
I was a member of the Scarborough Club back in the Dutton days, and it was a pretty well-oiled machine. The only thing I regretted was that the first year I played in the club championships, I was forced to play in the C group (ratings between 1860-1960) because my provisional rating was 1940.
I had moved from Montreal to Toronto earlier that year and I had only played one CFC tournament prior to my move, so my 1600 CFC rating rose fast to 1940. I would say I was about 2200 CFC strength at the time, but I hadn't played enough slow tournaments to get my rating up to that level. I asked Mark Dutton if I could buy my way into the A group, and he said I would have my hands full with the C group. I won that group 9-0 :)
Regardless of the conditions that would rank clubs by strength, having the strongest club would be by far more valuable than having the largest club.
Having the largest club in the most populated area in Canada is really not much to brag about. Quality is by far more valuable than quantity.
Jordan
Would having the largest club in the most populated area that has a lot of chess clubs be something to brag about? Strong is good but hard to prove the strongest in Canada. Geography gets in the way.
Quality is by far more valuable than quantity. Now that I agree with especially when it comes to chesstalk :). Like I said, bragging can get very old !
If I understand you correctly, I think I disagree with you. At the Scarborough Chess Club, we run our Swiss tournaments in 3 sections -- U1700, U2000 and 2000+. If you're within 100 rating points of the next section, you can elect to play up.
A lot of people disagree with me. See the climate change thread. :)
In a properly paired Swiss there shouldn't be more than the first couple of rounds where a player is badly over matched or under matched. If someone goes 0 - 8 or 1 for 8 (your example) in an event the problem is greater than the pairing system and the rating deserves to fall. After all, it's a tournament.
I always wanted to run an event and try to improve the overall strength of the player pool.
A properly paired one section Swiss allows those who are playing like stars to play with the stars. It also ensures those who are playing like patsers get to play with patsers.
A high rating is very nice. However, once the event starts a player is only as good as his score.
I was watching Kevin Spraggett's games (on the internet) at San Sebastian. After the first round he wrote on his blog his first round opponent was not the usual. A master class player who because of inactivity was only rated in the 1900's.
How many are CFC members? Maybe you should use that as a criteria for the biggest club. :)
Nope. I am not making any claims about strongest club, or most CFC members, or anything else. A lot of our juniors don't use clocks and don't record their games. But they have bought a club membership, and that is the sole criteria. Some of our juniors have graduated to the adult club and CFC rated weekend tournaments. It will be interesting to see how many of them take up chess as adults and buy CFC memberships. For now, they are just having fun. :D
I think you and your team at Mississauga CC can be quite proud of what you've accomplished with your junior program, and it looks like you, with the help of the juniors, have garnered the " biggest club in Canada " bragging rights, with about 150 members.
Scarborough CC has at best about 125 and will now just have to work harder !! I'd note that Scarborough CC also has a high proportion of juniors, though all ours play in the regular Thursday night swiss.
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