Closed events question(s)

[Wadih Khoury]

I was wondering, at what level do players start looking for (and getting invited to) closed events? Is it 2200+or before?

And in the UK, how does one find these closed events? I couldn't find an easy filter in the ECF calendar (but I am probably trying the wrong way). Or is it purely word of mouth?

[Joey Stewart]

I think it's partly rating based and partly about knowing the right people - in the past 2200 would have not got close to an invite unless they were the one running the event but now the rating system is so broken a 2200+ player has major appeal to an organiser looking to help give some rising talent a leg up.
Best advice I can give would be to search out organisers who put on closed events and contact them personally to see if they might be interested in allowing you into one (you could find such events by searching player rating profiles and seeing if there was something they played "off grid" though this would admittedly be an onerous task)

[LawrenceCooper]

I was wondering, at what level do players start looking for (and getting invited to) closed events? Is it 2200+or before?

And in the UK, how does one find these closed events? I couldn't find an easy filter in the ECF calendar (but I am probably trying the wrong way). Or is it purely word of mouth?

The good news is that there are more of them in England than there used to be. The organisers that come to mind are Lance Leslie-Smith, Tim Wall, 4NCL, Adam Raoof, Kingston chess club and myself (apologies for any obvious omissions as that is off the top of my head rather than working through the calendar). For female players you can also add "She Plays to Win" and the ECF women's director.

I think you are reasonably accurate in your estimate of 2200. What an organiser would probably want to avoid is multiple juniors with a FIDE of say 1800 and an ECF of 2200 although, for one player, they can round up to 2200 for GM norms and 2050 for IM norms. I'm currently organising a once a year GM norm event so I've mainly looked for 2300+ as the GM norm seekers need a minimum average of 2380 but for IM norm events where the average can be as low as 2230 then 2100+ seems reasonable.

[Wadih Khoury]

Thank you both.
Asking because over the last couple of months, three players of the 2009-2010 generation passed the 2100 fide mark (one of them breached the 2200 mark too).

[Stewart Reuben]

Wadih the best place for such tournaments is THE FIRST SATURDAY events in Budapest. They occur every month except January. People have been known to go to live in Hungary in order to play in these tournaments and get title norms and, in due course, the title they are seeking.

You could set up your own. If you want them to be FIDE Rated, you will need an arbiter. I did think of doing that in my own home when I moved in 1998, but never got around to it.