Multi-section opens.

[Mark A Jordan]

Why are multi-section opens rare in the UK while being quite common in Europe?

The basic set up is one big Swiss tournament in which anyone or any rating can enter with no options for rating restricted events. Instead what is on offer are quite generous prizes for rating limited sections within the tournament, plus junior, senior and women's prizes. Rather than just a rating prize of say £50, inevitably to be shared multiple ways, a rating prize might be £150 with perhaps 2nd and 3rd prizes withy some sort of tie-break arrangement. You can have as many rating bands as you like and they can go up quite far to say 2200. Contrary to the views of some organisers, a cash price is an incentive if it's reasonably attainable and at least it offsets costs. Being one big tournament it saves on organisational effort and, therefore, costs.

Common in the UK is a congress with an Open event and 2 or 3 sections with rating restrictions. The problem is, you do well in the lower sections, find yourself rated over 1900, and then you're mostly faced with Opens where not only is a prize unlikely, but you get crushed rather a lot. People lose heart which is perhaps why we have tournaments with lots of juniors, lots of seniors and no-one much in the middle. It may also be why we have a problem attracting players, except juniors, between 1900 and 2200. Experienced players at that level are crucial if you want to give up and coming juniors good experienced opposition, and if they're not entering tournaments this has an effect on revenue.

When I was residing in France I twice entered the Avoine International Open (a 9 day tourney) and also the Avoine Weekender. All tournaments were very well attended with well over 300 participants, including some GMs and IMs and other titled players, lots of juniors and far more working age adults, and many more women than are usually seen in UK events. I ended up winning 50 Euro in the weekender for coming third in my rating section and 75 Euros plus a bottle of rather good wine in my second Avoine International Open for second in my rating section.

[Roger de Coverly]

Why are multi-section opens rare in the UK while being quite common in Europe?

The basic set up is one big Swiss tournament in which anyone or any rating can enter with no options for rating restricted events.

9 round events are relatively infrequent in the UK and when they do take place, they discourage lower rated entrants presumably in the interests of Norm chances.

With many events being 5 round weekenders, you get a natural limit at around 50 to 60 per section above which the Swiss pairing system struggles.

The other problem with one enormous section are the inevitable mismatches in the early rounds. Accelerated pairings attempt to deal with this, but aren't especially popular.

Historically week long tournaments were a problem for anyone of working age in the UK because they would absorb much of the holiday allowance.

I could also suspect that accommodation costs are higher in the UK than in Europe.

[Mick Norris]

It's been discussed on here before; the late Harry Lamb took his experience of playing in France, and ran the Manchester Congress one year as just 1 section on the lines suggested; it wasn't successful financially, so it wasn't repeated IIRC; I think Alan Walton commented his first round opponent wasn't happy to be playing someone much stronger

[Mark A Jordan]

It would be interesting to know the details and it certainly seems to be successful in Europe. Also, don't you always play someone much stronger in the first round in a seeded Swiss if you're in the bottom half of a tournament? I was once seeded against a very strong Indian player in the first round of a rapid play event when I was second of the bottom half. Had I been one place higher I'd have faced John Nunn! I think at Avoine the median rating was around 1800 so not too intimidating for club players and they use an interesting variation on the seeded Swiss.

[Roger de Coverly]

It would be interesting to know the details and it certainly seems to be successful in Europe. Also, don't you always play someone much stronger in the first round in a seeded Swiss if you're in the bottom half of a tournament?

I think it quite common in European Opens for there to be an Open A, Open B, Open C etc with rating limits. British organisers seem reluctant to run tournaments on these lines and if you want to avoid the titled players or are excluded by rating restrictions, you have to play a different format with fewer rounds.

If you had a tournament with just one section, it is plausible that one median player could be facing a GM and the one above facing a beginner.

At the recent Crewe Open (5 round Swiss with four sections), the round 1 pairing in the Open was 1919 v 2325. In the Major it was 1947 v 1741

[Roger de Coverly]

I think it quite common in European Opens for there to be an Open A, Open B, Open C etc with rating limits.

I took a look at the Aix en Provence (France) Dole Open currently (July 24th) in progress.

This consist of three sections (Over 2100, Under 2200, Under 1700)

To judge by the number of titled players in the Open, the sponsor must have put a fair amount of money on the table.

Head counts are respectively 297, 114 and 30.

https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1450094 ... 0&SNode=S0

[NickFaulks]

I took a look at the Aix en Provence (France) Dole Open currently (July 24th) in progress.

Of the 61 entrants rated 2100-2199, all but one ( rated 2106 ) entered the Open.

[Phil Neatherway]

I recently played in the Open des Vins in France. This was a relatively small tournament over 9 rounds of around 70 players, ranging from 2314 to 1299, all in one section. So you are bound to get some mismatches in the 1st round, but things settle down after that. Experienced organisers might have a view on whether they would have preferred more sections, and I'd be interested to hear it. This is a very friendly tournament which I would thororoughly recommend to anyone looking for a chess related holiday in the Medoc. There are no money prizes, just wine.

https://echiquier-medocain.fr/open-des-vins/

By contrast, the tournament at Creon (which I can't play in this year) has changed to 3 sections this year, over 2100, 1750-2200 and under 1800. Currently nearly 200 players have registered. I'll be interested to see how it goes. Last year, there were 2, over 1750 and under 1800. I won a veterans prize in the under 1800, which was 6 bottles of Bordeaux wine! This is in the Dordogne, another great holiday area.

https://www.creon-echecs.fr/accueil/tou ... nal-creon/

Both these tournaments are 9 rounds spread over a week, a common arrangement in France.

[Ian Thompson]

I took a look at the Aix en Provence (France) Dole Open currently (July 24th) in progress.

Of the 61 entrants rated 2100-2199, all but one ( rated 2106 ) entered the Open.

I'm not surprised. My experience of playing in such events is that nearly everyone who can choose enters the higher section.

[MJMcCready]

It's like that in Asia too.