e2e4.org.uk Sunningdale Open

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I enjoyed the weekend and the chess as always, but I think my game was the last to finish in both rounds 6 and 7, so I was playing chess from 10:00 to around 19:20 with only a half hour break between 14:30 and 15:00. The games were 85 and 74 moves (draw and loss).

Nobody should doubt Chris' dedication to the cause. I dropped back in to the playing hall at about 2:20pm to see his game still going. When I came back to get myself set for the final round I saw that he was spending some of that half an hour break analysing the game from round 6!

Oh, that was mainly to clear my head of my thoughts from that game before the next (and final) round. I considered asking for my game in the next round to be delayed for a short time (not sure exactly when that is allowed), but when I remembered it was the final round I changed my mind, as I didn't want to get home very late, and I knew it was quite possible that I'd have another long game (which proved to be the case, as my opponent turned down my earlier draw offer).

BTW, Jonathan, congratulations on your win. I thought you might get 7/7 there, but not quite.

[David Sedgwick]

I considered asking for my game in the next round to be delayed for a short time (not sure exactly when that is allowed), but when I remembered it was the final round I changed my mind, as I didn't want to get home very late, and I knew it was quite possible that I'd have another long game (which proved to be the case, as my opponent turned down my earlier draw offer).

Sean allows a minimum of 30 minutes between games. I checked the time as your Round 6 game finished. It was 2.28 pm, so the possibility didn't quite arise.

BTW, Jonathan, congratulations on your win. I thought you might get 7/7 there, but not quite.

Congratulations from me as well.

Thanks to Sean, David and the unseen helpers for a great long weekend of Chess

Thanks John.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

We offer three byes in this event because we recognise that not everyone can make 7 or even 6 rounds. Lots of people need a bye on the Friday night because of travel and / or work. With a three day commitment over what is often a nice weekend, one family event in the weekend could then prevent you from playing. We don't like chess prevention so we allow three byes instead so that people can play and still do their other things.

Is this an advantage? I don't know, and perhaps it depends on your perspective. It's certainly not an unfair advantage, as it was announced up front and anyone could have chosen to have three byes if they wanted to. Personally I think it's a disadvantage because to win a prize you typically have to score 78% or more. Consequently, the more games you score at 50% because of a bye, the better you have to perform in your remaining games to win anything. Anthony Kelly scored 100% in the games he played, yet only came 3rd. His byes cost him any chance of 1st or 2nd place.

The fact that only 2 players took three byes (and neither did so for tactical reasons) suggests that players don't think that taking multiple byes aides your chances in the tournament.

The above is all very reasonable, but I can't help getting a nagging feeling that there was some chess left unfinished. (This is a different argument to what I said before, as I hadn't quite pinned down what I was thinking here).

It depends on whether you are aiming to run an event that as many people as possible can participate in and enjoy (with byes where needed), or something aimed at producing a clear winner from those that entered. The fact that Kelly and Bryant were both undefeated but did not meet over the board, leaves me wondering what might have happened. Compare that to Bryant beating the second-placed player, Peter Tart - that clearly resolved things there.

I suppose that tournaments that require clear and comparable results don't allow byes (for example, the 9-round APA e2e4 events coming up in August) and the British Championship. But as I mentioned above, normal weekend tournaments are aimed more at providing weekend chess in a swiss format, not strictly speaking to produce an undisputed winner whose performance can be compared to those of all other competitors (which is what an APA does, or a championship where people have to qualify and can't take byes).

[Sean Hewitt]

The fact that Kelly and Bryant were both undefeated but did not meet over the board, leaves me wondering what might have happened.

Gareth Harley-Yeo and Bob Kane were both also undefeated!! They might feel left out.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The fact that Kelly and Bryant were both undefeated but did not meet over the board, leaves me wondering what might have happened.

Gareth Harley-Yeo and Bob Kane were both also undefeated!! They might feel left out.

Clearly there is a need for a Champion of Champions tournament... Oh wait, you have the Grand Prix for that.

http://www.e2e4.org.uk/grandprix/index.htm

Is the Gatwick event the last one on the calendar for this season?

[Jonathan Bryant]

BTW, Jonathan, congratulations on your win. I thought you might get 7/7 there, but not quite.

Congratulations from me as well.

Thanks chaps. It was certainly the event of a lifetime for me. As for 7/7, well, I had to balance the possibility of achieving this with an unfortunate habit of choking in the last round. In the end, when my opponent offered me a draw I decided cowardice was the better part of valour.

As for the byes thing, I can totally understand your point Chris. By the end of Monday I felt like we'd been playing forever and certainly playing four games over two days - with a day's rest (or at least non-chessing) in the middle is not at all the same thing as playing seven games over three days and an evening. That said, I tend to think that while people taking many byes and in effect playing a different schedule to everybody else leads to some unanswered questions, as you say, the discrepancies that arise are probably no greater than what you inevitably get with Swiss tournaments anyway.

E.g. Have a look at Jason Pink's opposition. We played two opponents the same. Of the other four games (he seems to have withdrawn after round 6) his opponents were considerably stronger than mine, and yet he had 3.5 points less than me by that point. What if he'd had my opposition and I had his?

I don't think Swiss tournaments are particularly good at showing who's played the best out of a field of players over a certain period of time. That's why I don't like them for important tournaments like the British Championship.

Given you can get such strange variations in strength of opposition anyway, I'm not sure it matters that much really if somebody takes a few byes. And as Sean says, it does allow more people to take part.

[Sean Hewitt]

Clearly there is a need for a Champion of Champions tournament... Oh wait, you have the Grand Prix for that.

http://www.e2e4.org.uk/grandprix/index.htm

Is the Gatwick event the last one on the calendar for this season?

Yes it is. And with points at Gatwick worth double, there is still everything to play for!

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

The fact that Kelly and Bryant were both undefeated but did not meet over the board, leaves me wondering what might have happened.

Gareth Harley-Yeo and Bob Kane were both also undefeated!! They might feel left out.

I'm quite happy for people who took 3 byes to win money over me. At the end of the day I walk home with nothing because of too many errors. Had I not made so many mistakes I'd have finished above them.

I would have dearly loved to take on Mr Bryant in such form mind you.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The acronym BCQ (British Championship Qualified) was on the posted draws for the Open, so I assume there was a British Championship Qualification place on offer. Any news on who got that, or was the BCQ marker there for other reasons?

[Jonathan Bryant]

I would have dearly loved to take on Mr Bryant in such form mind you.

Gatwick?

[warning: form can go down as well as up]

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I would have dearly loved to take on Mr Bryant in such form mind you.

Gatwick?

Rumble in the, er, airport?

[IM Jack Rudd]

The acronym BCQ (British Championship Qualified) was on the posted draws for the Open, so I assume there was a British Championship Qualification place on offer.

You assume right - all FIDE rated Opens in the UK have a British Championship qualifying place.

[Roger de Coverly]

You assume right - all FIDE rated Opens in the UK have a British Championship qualifying place.

Is it known who it was? One of the players on 4.5 I'd assume.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The acronym BCQ (British Championship Qualified) was on the posted draws for the Open, so I assume there was a British Championship Qualification place on offer.

You assume right - all FIDE rated Opens in the UK have a British Championship qualifying place.

So if I "organise" a FIDE-rated "Open" that happens to be, er, badly advertised (enquiries through the FIDE website from GMs would mysteriously go astray), and I win it, I get a British Championship qualifying place? This was prompted directly by the dodgy ethics post you made in another thread!

More seriously, I see the number of e2e4 tournaments is set to go up:

http://www.e2e4.org.uk/calendar/index.htm

All those events that include an Open section include a British Championship qualifying place?

That may be quite a lot of people, presuming they all decide to go and can afford it.

PS. Sean, I love the way you have put down a marker for the "Bank Holiday Chess Congress; 1-5 June 2012" - no venue , but you've grabbed the date (the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday?) already.

[Sean Hewitt]

The acronym BCQ (British Championship Qualified) was on the posted draws for the Open, so I assume there was a British Championship Qualification place on offer.

David Haydon qualified on tie break.

PS. Sean, I love the way you have put down a marker for the "Bank Holiday Chess Congress; 1-5 June 2012" - no venue , but you've grabbed the date (the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday?) already.

Well, the last weekend in May next year is not a bank holiday as it has been put back a week. I've therefore decided to delay the Sunningdale event one week to keep it on the bank holiday weekend. However, it may not be at Sunningdale as they are not yet able to commit the date. Nevertheless, it's only fair to tell others that that is what we have done so that they can plan accordingly.