Tournaments in Oz
Submitted by
on Wed, 06/04/2008 at 7:18am.
On line today, Phil_from_Blayney, an Australian chess player who promotes chess in his district, asked what would make would make a tournament attractive to me or my friends.
Competitive chess in the Land of Oz attracts a tiny group of people. In New South Wales, Australia's most populous state (although Victoria runs a close second) there are 998 rated players on the active list. It's not certain what “active” means but I have been told it means that although they may not actually be current financial members, they have played at least one competition game in the last five years.
The result is that in Sydney if we play a weekend tournament we normally expect an attendance of from 25 to 110 players, with the average being about 40. And they'll be basically the same 40 for each one. (Victoria are more successful, but not by a significant amount.)
Although tournament numbers were never high in Oz they were never this low, either. The peak was during the Fischer-fuelled boom of the 1970s when clubs sprang up all over the suburbs. Now, Sydney has relatively few.
A lot of factors have added to the decline.
Direct causes are Internet chess sites, which allow all the chess you want without leaving home, and poker which is widely promoted throughout NSW provides an attractive alternative at minimum cost and offers better prize money than chess.
The major indirect cause, which affects attendance at all sports, recreations, theatre and cinema, is the popularity of home entertainment including such things as DVD players and Internet-based activities (of which chess is only one).
So, to answer my friend's question: what would make a tournament attractive to me?
First, I'd want it to be played over a single weekend (either two or three days).
Second, the venue would have to be easily accessible and with adequate car parking. (One major tournament a couple of years ago was held at Bondi Beach. It was winter time but parking was severely restricted and the club hosting the tournament offered only half day parking for chess players. The tournament failed so badly to attract players that subsequent tournaments have been moved to Sydney's western suburbs.) I wouldn't play in a tournament that required me to stay away overnight.
My preferred time limit would be 90' + 10” a move, but anything from 60' + 30” a move would be fine.
Reasonable entry fees. (Now I'm retired I have to watch my pennies.)
Prize money? I suppose so. Certainly many players expect it. It's not why I play chess although I had the good fortune in 2005 to win the highest prize ever offered in an Under 1600 tournament in Australia. I'd have been just as happy with a nice trophy. There's a story about it on my web site here: http://www.users.tpg.com.au/adslpu7j/chess/nsw.html
So there you are, Phil_from_Blayney. Those are my requirements. In fact, there's a tournament that meets all those criteria next weekend. So, will I go? Not this time. I'm just as happy to stay home and play on chess.com.
This year I've played only one OTB tournament and that was in January. I'll probably get back to it next year.