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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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I just found a useful tool in my Control Panel ("User CP">"Settings and Options">"Edit ignore list"). I found when I add some names to this list (and I can always remove them, later) it makes the thread easier to follow :p
Have you actually tried this? Do you have to logout/login to make it happen?
What I noticed is that the posts are still there - perhaps the ignore list only applies to new posts?
Ah... it works BETTER than expected in a way: the posts are still there and the header is shown, but if you click on the post the forum reminds you that person is on your ignore list...
Perhaps it is a good thing to be able to see that someone in the ignore list has posted (something-all you see is the subject line) in the rare case that it might be on topic.
Thanks for posting Anton. I'm not sure chess is getting worse, but it remains true that professional chess tournaments in Canada are too expensive for most organizers to deliver. A decent 10 player round robin, with an appearance fee of $1000 per player plus accommodation and a modest $10,000 prize fund carries a price tag of $30-40K. This should be easily raised in a wealthy country like Canada but the reality is quite different. I hope I live to see the day when Canada can stage a few such events per year.
No need for a closed tournament, specially if it's only one per year. I think to begin it would be far better stop doing this nonsense 1200, 1600, 2000 sections and start organizing serious tournaments, like for instance a big Open with atleast $2000 for first, nine or seven rounds, and fide rated. What kind of progress could there be if begginers play against begginers and masters play against masters, and at the end everyone gets the same prize. Even a simple begginer that only knows how to move pieces would prefer to see a one tournament with descent prizes than a bunch of nonsense tournaments with less or equal to $1000 for first. And of course class prizes in any tourney are very important too... Just look at any open in Spain even when there are 1000 euros for first there are easily more than 100 players attending, almost all opens there are a one big tournament, 9 rounds, fide rated. The rounds could start at around 7pm and double round on weekends and all games 1:30 with 30 sec increment or 2 hours to finish. It doesn't sound impossible, but of course sponsorship is important... When organizers do tournaments depending only on the registration fee, this is not a real chess tournament, it's an aberration!
No need for a closed tournament, specially if it's only one per year. I think to begin it would be far better stop doing this nonsense 1200, 1600, 2000 sections and start organizing serious tournaments, like for instance a big Open with atleast $2000 for first, nine or seven rounds, and fide rated. What kind of progress could there be if begginers play against begginers and masters play against masters, and at the end everyone gets the same prize. Even a simple begginer that only knows how to move pieces would prefer to see a one tournament with descent prizes than a bunch of nonsense tournaments with less or equal to $1000 for first. And of course class prizes in any tourney are very important too... Just look at any open in Spain even when there are 1000 euros for first there are easily more than 100 players attending, almost all opens there are a one big tournament, 9 rounds, fide rated. The rounds could start at around 7pm and double round on weekends and all games 1:30 with 30 sec increment or 2 hours to finish. It doesn't sound impossible, but of course sponsorship is important... When organizers do tournaments depending only on the registration fee, this is not a real chess tournament, it's an aberration!
Best regards, Anton.
I agree, it would be interesting to have a big Open tournament. However, it wouldn't fit in a week-end. Having only one section and 5 rounds would never work. Also, a big Open in the middle of the year would probably not attract a lot of people, except if it is during a long week-end.
Anyway, thanks for giving your opinion. I'll try to forward the information to organizers who might be interested into organizing such a tournament.
I agree, it would be interesting to have a big Open tournament. However, it wouldn't fit in a week-end. Having only one section and 5 rounds would never work. Also, a big Open in the middle of the year would probably not attract a lot of people, except if it is during a long week-end.
Anyway, thanks for giving your opinion. I'll try to forward the information to organizers who might be interested into organizing such a tournament.
Yes, that's why I say the rounds should start at 7pm on regular days. For instance a 7 rounds tourney: thursday 7pm, friday 7pm, saturday double round sunday double round, monday last round (and the most important one) 7pm (I personally played many of these in Argentina, and they were very succeful).
If an organizer wants a weekend tournament why not make it a rapid or even better a 1 hour per player and again 7 rounds. Who cares if it's classic chess or not if in both cases these weekend tournaments aren't rated fide, this is not perfect but it's a nice and inexpensive start. This kind of tournaments should be great for both "professionals" and begginers who really want to learn. It's really sad seeing kids playing this nonsense under 2000 or 1600 tournaments, they learn nothing at all and if things keep going like this they never will. As I mentioned before class prizes are very important but only if it's a one big open with all levels. For players like me only the first two rounds would be " easy games" the remaining 5 or 7 would be like playing the typical 2000 and up section tournament.
This kind of tournaments should be great for both "professionals" and begginers who really want to learn. It's really sad seeing kids playing this nonsense under 2000 or 1600 tournaments
Open tournaments would also eliminate the greedy cheaters you find in
the section tournaments:
Last year in the 2011 Canadian Open U 2000 section, I was up material, but
in a critical position and short of time when two pals of my opponent set up
camp just outside my board just chatting away, when I blundered. One of
the two pals would not even write down all of his moves when later I played
him, when I lost on time.
When I complained to TD Aris when yet another one of my opponents
stopped writing moves altogether, he would not even check his scoresheet,
and just took him at his word. That game was drawn.
The 2010 Canadian Open, a single open section, was much more enjoyable
for that reason, but TDs must be aware of the possibility of last round
fixing. and investigate any complaints. Best is to pair players trying to win
the same section prizes in the last round.
Seems you are right - Look at last year's Toronto Closed ( this year, the tournament is so wobbly that GTCL doesn't even have a bid for the 2012 tournament as far as I've heard ). The Championship section is an 8-player round robin over 7 consective weekends ( not sure but I think it was played on Sunday afternoons ). I believe the prize fund is quite modest:
2011 Toronto Closed Ch
Date Director Region Type
2011-04-03 Vladimir Birarov ON R
# Player Old Perf New High Results Total
1 Plotkin, Victor 2403 2475 2422 2436 X = 1 1 = 1 0 1 5.0
2 Kleinman, Michael 2246 2440 2279 2299 = X 0 = 1 = 1 1 4.5
3 Sapozhnikov, Roman 2459 2353 2443 2477 0 1 X 0 = 1 = 1 4.0
4 Birarov, Vladimir 2257 2325 2267 2267 0 = 1 X 1 = 0 = 3.5
5 Guo, Josh 2263 2324 2272 2272 = 0 = 0 X = 1 1 3.5
6 Aronov, Yuri 2313 2317 2313 2320 0 = 0 = = X 1 1 3.5
7 Barron, Michael 2340 2256 2328 2377 1 0 = 1 0 0 X = 3.0
8 Moffat, Andrei 2248 2040 2220 2321 0 0 0 = 0 0 = X 1.0
5/8 players over 2300, which is not too shabby. But in Toronto, one would hope for much better.
Here are the potential top players ( from the 2012 top Ontario list, active in the last five years ):
1 Noritsyn, Nikolay Richmond Hill, ON 2661 2012-02-20
2 Bluvshtein, Mark Toronto, ON 2632 2011-07-17
3 Gerzhoy, Leonid Toronto, ON 2592 2011-12-18
4 Samsonkin, Artiom Toronto, ON 2568 2012-02-20
6 Sapozhnikov, Roman Richmond Hill, ON 2528 2012-02-20
7 Zugic, Igor Toronto, ON 2516 2008-09-02
8 Thavandiran, Shiyam Toronto, ON 2501 2012-01-15
11 Teplitsky, Yan Markham, ON 2473 2010-09-06
12 Quan, Zhe Richmond Hill, ON 2462 2009-07-19
13 Tayar, Jonathan Toronto, ON 2462 2011-09-05
15 Cummings, David Toronto, ON 2439 2012-01-23
17 Kleinman, Michael Toronto, ON 2415 2012-02-20
18 Hambleton, Aman Toronto, ON 2414 2012-02-20
19 Livshits, Ron Pickering, ON 2412 2009-08-16
20 Martchenko, Alexander Etobicoke, ON 2412 2011-07-30
Now some of these are university students away from Toronto for school, and would not be able to attend a regular Toronto weekly tournament. And maybe a few have weekend commitments that would prevent them playing, and a few are semi-retired at least. But all are over 2400! GTCL only attracted 2 from this list: Roman Sapozhnikov and Michael Kleinman ( who wouldn't have been on the list last year ). So obviously top players don't play if there is no money. So much for attempting strong-player FIDE tournaments on a shoe-string.
Bob A.
Looking at this year's Toronto Closed, where the prize fund is again quite modest, I don't find support for the hypothesis you're putting forward.
I took the top 50 in Ontario, active in the past year (and not officially retired), then eliminated the non-Toronto players, and ended up with a list of 30-odd, with ratings down to about 2230.
This rating cut-off includes the top seven players registered in our Championship section.
Obviously, participation is not universal - some people have family, work, or school commitments (or health issues) and can't play in every elite FIDE event that comes their way - but it seems that interest is fairly randomly distributed.
1 Noritsyn, Nikolay 2661
2 Gerzhoy, Leonid 2592
3 Samsonkin, Artiom 2568 4 Sapozhnikov, Roman 2528 5 Thavandiran, Shiyam 2501
6 Tayar, Jonathan 2462
7 Cummings, David 2439
8 Hambleton, Aman 2414
9 Martchenko, Alexander 2412
10 Calugar, Arthur 2404 11 Kleinman, Michael 2398 12 Milicevic, Goran 2393 13 Plotkin, Victor 2376 14 Stevens, Christian 2348
15 Yuan, Yuanling 2328
16 Puri, Vinny 2320 17 Humphreys, Michael 2317 18 Ochkoos, Jura 2309
19 Pedersen, Rune 2294
20 Dougherty, Michael 2293
21 Chung, Kevin 2286
22 Yee, Lorne 2282
23 Khoudgarian, Natalia 2278 24 Renteria, Rolando 2263
25 Barron, Michael 2262
26 Birarov, Vladimir 2261 27 Gusev, Nikita 2256
28 Henry, Liam 2254
29 Campbell, Brett 2251
30 Gelis, Paul 2251
31 Zeromskis, Egidijus 2247
32 Filipovich, David 2233
33 Wright, John 2232
Last edited by Marcus Wilker; Monday, 19th March, 2012, 10:55 AM.
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