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Posted by Gilbert on 9/5/2010, 8:47 pm, in reply to "Disappointment"
142.162.18.110
and sour grapes I guess
I like to play Chess and have mostly loss and not been able to play in many tournaments.
A healthy club would have many players with various rates so that they would enjoy playing anyone at the meeting and tournaments.
Hosting the Canadian Open/Close is a big thing which it seems Toronto can do more easily.
If the club was configured to build a war chest to stage such event, then get the club to change the structure. OR start your own club and do it.
Congratulation to everyone who played and the winner of the tournament.
But I am just another patzer.
--Previous Message--
: I didn't manage to defend my title this year,
: however I still had a fun time despite
: losing for the second year in a row with
: White against Anthony Leonard.
:
: I'm actually not disappointed in losing the
: title. Both Anthony and fellow Expert Morgan
: Mills played excellent chess to keep me to
: only 3.5 points. My draw with Morgan was
: hard fought, but there was never really an
: error that either player could have
: exploited.
:
: What is disappointing to me is the overall
: lack of enthusiasm and comittment, and poor
: attitudes of some of this city's players.
:
: A 12-player round robin began in April. It's
: now the beginning of September and many
: players still have yet to play all of their
: games. I have no idea how so many players
: cannot find the time to play 11 games in
: five months, which is really only one game
: every two weeks. Were it not for my vacation
: in April, two weeks of out-of-province
: training in May and business comittments
: throughout the summer, I would have played
: as I have many round robins in the past. I
: registered, played one game, then found out
: about the two weeks of training, so I had to
: bow out. Had I known the tournament would
: drag on this long, I might have actually
: stayed in it, but it was supposed to end in
: July, which is high season for my wedding
: business.
:
: Even in past round robins, I was always
: chasing after everyone else to play. Very
: few players would actually show any interest
: in playing against me. In April, I sent an
: e-mail to all of my 11 oppoents. My e-mail
: asked for players to e-mail me their
: schedules so we could find time to play.
: After more than 10 days, I received only one
: response, and played only one game. At the
: club one night, one of the players was free
: to play, but he said he wanted to get a few
: games in before playing me. It was only
: after I sent a second e-mail telling
: everyone that I was no longer able to play
: that some players finally responded with
: various excuses as to why they didn't reply
: to my first e-mail.
:
: It seems that chess in St. John's is dying,
: and although new players occasionally pop up
: out of nowhere, they play maybe one
: tournament and never show up again. Most
: players in this city are doing absolutely
: nothing to try to build up the chess
: community, and one player in particular has
: done everything possible to even get me to
: lose interest, namely Brian Oliver.
:
: By convincing Alick to change the prize
: structure so that there is always at least
: two prizes, Brian has succeeded in taking
: what little bit I would earn from winning a
: monthly weekend tournament and cut it in
: half. In a four-player tournament (which
: sadly is a typical monthly turnout), where
: everyone pays $15 ($12 for prizes, $3 for
: rating fees), I used to net a whopping $33
: gain for winning first. For roughly 8-10
: hours of chess $33 is really nothing. With
: the new prize structure I would only net
: $16. Second place out of four players
: (not-so-aptly called "best
: performance") nets a big $2 gain ($15
: entry fee, $17 for "winning"
: second place).
:
: And why exactly did this happen? It seems
: that Brian was tired of paying entry fees
: and not winning prizes, so he lobbied to
: change the prize structure to always include
: a "best performance" prize.
: Apparently my input is not important in this
: commuunity, because the prize funding
: changed "at the request of some of the
: players" according to Alick, without so
: much as asking for my opinion. Also, Alick
: told me that adding a second prize was done
: to convince more players to play, which I
: find completely laughable. Ever since the
: new prize structure took place in March,
: fewer players than ever have registered for
: weekend tournaments (April: 4 players; May:
: 3 players; June: 0 players; July: 0 players;
: August: 0 players.)
:
: I would like respond to a comment that Brian
: made to me today when I voiced my
: disagreement with the new prize structure.
: Brian had the absolute nerve to say to me,
: "I have contributed to you quite nicely
: over the years".
:
: Not only was Brian's comment by far the most
: crass thing anyone has said to me in this
: chess comminity in the 4+ years I have been
: in St. John's, it is also grossly
: inaccurate. Even if I did get paid Brian's
: entire entry fee, anyone who thinks that my
: time is worth only about $4 per hour for
: playing chess needs to have their head
: checked. I charge a minimum of $25 per hour
: for private lessons, and all of my private
: students have gone on to become Experts and
: Masters. My 21 years of experince in chess
: is worth a lot more than what Brian thinks.
:
: So no Brian, you did not contribute to me at
: all over the years. In fact, had you
: concentrated more on improving your game
: than winning prizes, you could have actually
: benefited from my participation by learning
: from all of your losses. You pay tournament
: entry fees like everyone else does, and you
: didn't win prizes most of the time. It's not
: as if to say you deserve to win a prize when
: you don't finish first in a tournament with
: five players or less.
:
: Not that anyone really cares, but my
: participation in this chess community is
: done. No one ever asked for my help to try
: to raise interest in chess in St. John's.
: Apparently second place prizes were a much
: bigger agenda item than improving the
: overall level of play and interest in this
: community. I actually wasted my time trying
: to get funding to have a Canadian Open or
: Closed come to St. John's for nezt year.
: Fortunately the regular players showed a
: complete lack of enthusiasm long before I
: got the delusional idea that anyone actually
: cared about bringing a prestigious
: tournament to St. John's.
:
: Well Brian, you got what you wanted: The
: possibility of "winning" second
: place. Enjoy your new-found fortune; you
: won't have to worry about me winning your
: lucrative entry fees anymore.
:
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