Summary of the MCC Discussion Regarding the Clubs’ Championship Event

Author: Alan Hodge

October 1998

Opinion was pretty evenly split regarding whether the championship should be one section or some other structure.

A single-section tournament is the traditional format for the club championship. Arguments in favor of this format are that it gives every club member a shot at being club champion (theoretically at least), with the champion being determined from a single pool of all club members; and that it reinforces the idea that we are a single club, facilitates more contacts between players across broader ranges of ratings, and fosters a greater social sense among club members.

Objections raised against a single-section tournament included these:

· Many players have no realistic chance to be champion, given the strength of the club and especially the regular Master-level participation that we enjoy from Masters Foygel and Curdo, so the idea of giving every member a shot doesn’t amount to much.

· Players (especially lower-rated players) might choose not to participate in the tournament rather than play games involving enormous rating differences. A single-section tournament offers such players an unattractive choice between getting “beaten up” in some number of very uneven games or not playing at the club for a six-week period. A smaller number of entrants also means a smaller prize fund.

· For the championship to be most meaningful, it should be determined by the toughest competition that can be arranged. Providing Master-level players with several easy games against much lower-rated players does not contribute to this.

· The larger the one-section tournament is, the greater the chances that there will be two- or even three-way ties for first place, and that these “co-champions” will not have played each other during the tournament.

The following alternative proposals are being presented for the consideration and comment of the Club membership.

1. Retain the current format: one-section, six-round Swiss. Accelerated pairings could be used (depending on the number of players entered), at the Tournament Director’s discretion, which would address, to a degree, some of the objections raised against this format.

Note: The Stanley Crowe Tournament will continue to be one section, although it is only five rounds. Part of the championship format consideration might therefore be whether the Club should sponsor more than one one-section tournament each year.

2. Use the regular Club format, but recognize the winner of the Open Section as the Club Champion. Anyone from lower sections wanting to compete for the championship can play up. Depending on the number of players who enter the Open Section, the number of rounds might be insufficient to produce a single winner, and there might be one or two lower sections. In essence, this equates to running two tournaments concurrently: one for the championship, the other for players not contending for the championship, but who do not want to miss out on tournament play while the championship is being decided.

3. A round-robin or double round-robin tournament for a small number of qualifying players. This likewise equates to running separate tournaments concurrently: one for championship contenders, the other for non-contenders. Different numbers of players were suggested, but in any case the number must be small, given the number of rounds that would be required (number of players minus one, for a single round-robin; twice that for a double round-robin). In reality, unless play was instituted on a second night each week, a round-robin or double round-robin might occupy six to 15 weeks if four to sixteen players were involved, removing these players from the regular tournaments for the duration. This would definitely put the level of competition for the championship at the highest point, and be fairest for the contenders in terms of who would play whom, and, in the double round-robin, also in terms of equalizing colors. The issue of how players would qualify to play in it would need to be worked out, but the following are possibilities:
rating:

§ Rating: Top 16 players by rating at the time of the tournament from all members who want to play in it.

§ Performance at the club over the preceding year: This should be a combination of a minimum number of games played at the Club (say, one-half of all possible rounds, with full-point byes counting as a game played) and winning percentage in games played (exclusive of full-point byes). Such a formula provides some opportunities foe lower-rated players who have played well in their sections during the year to qualify for the championship tournament.

§ Some sort of qualifying tournament such as is discussed below in alternative number 5.

4. An invitational tournament like the Challenge Cup, whose winner would be recognized as Club champion. This suggestion had more to do with how players were selected to compete for the championship than with the format of the tournament. The invitations would be issued by the Club Board based on criteria to be determined.

5. Two tournament system: Qualifying and Championship. A Swiss qualifying tournament (preferably of five rounds) would be played during one month, after which the top 16 finishers who are members would play a four-round Swiss for the championship, making it a two-month process to determine the Club champion. The qualifying tournament is proposed as a one-section tournament, like the traditional format, but could also be a two- (or more) section tournament with the Open Section qualifying players for the championship tournament and one or more other sections for non-contenders and non-members. This proposal combines the ideas of giving every club member a shot (qualifying tournament) and elevating the level of competition in the championship tournament (restricted to 16 qualifying players). While the championship tournament was being played, a concurrent tournament for non-contenders and non-members would be run.

6. For comparison purposes, the procedure used by the Waltham Chess Club to determine its champion is described in a separate document. In brief, the WCC plays a seven-round round-robin qualifying tournament in five sections, after which the top two finishers in each section play a nine-round round-robin to determine the champion. This process takes the club four months to complete. Note that the above procedure is based on having forty players.

Note: Entries in MCC’s regular tournaments have numbered in the 60s recently, but not all are members. To adopt the WCC model would potentially require either some kind of selection process to limit participation to 40 players (or fewer), or an expanded timeframe to accommodate more rounds (60 players means two more qualifying sections, and four more qualifiers, which requires 13 [rather than nine] rounds in a single round-robin championship tournament.), or reducing the number of qualifiers to one per qualifying section (seven qualifiers would require six rounds for a round-robin).

We requested information also from the Boylston Chess Club, but as of this writing have not received it.

There are some other questions attendant on the championship tournament besides its format. The following points do not apply to all the above alternatives in the same way or to the same degree.

§ Should the championship tournament have money prizes or title only? And if yes to m oney prizes, should they be extraordinarily large or be based on only the entries for that tournament?

§ Should there be “class” prizes (smaller money prizes, trophies, or only title as “class” champion)?

§ Given that the Club champion can only be a Club member (as of the start of the tournament), are non-members excluded from playing in the championship tournament, or should they be allowed to play, the Club champion being the highest-finishing Club member?

The following summarizes the options and choices to be made:

Championship Tournament Format:

[ ] Retain current format (one section, six-round Swiss)

[ ] Use regular, multi-section format, with the Open Section considered the championship tournament

[ ] Round-robin:

[ ] Single round-robin [ ] Double round-robin
Number of players: [ ] 4 [ ] Single RR [ ] Double RR
[ ] 8 [ ] Single RR [ ] Double RR
[ ] 16 (Single RR only)
Qualify by: [ ] Rating [ ] Performance at Club [ ] Qualifying tournament

[ ] Invitational tournament
Number of players: [ ] 4 [ ] 8 [ ] 16
Format: [ ] Swiss [ ] Single RR [ ] Double RR

[ ] Two tournament system:
Qualifying tournament is: [ ] One-section [ ] More than one section

[ ] Waltham Chess Club Model:
[ ] Players limited to not more than 40
[ ] Have as many qualifying sections as needed to accommodate all players

Championship tournament prizes: [ ] Large money

[ ] Money based only on tournament entries

[ ] No money prizes

Class prizes: [ ] Money

[ ] “Class” Trophy

[ ] “Class” title only

Non-members may play in championship tournament:
[ ] Non-members may not play in championship tournament
[ ] Non-members may play in championship tournament, but are not eligible to win either

championship title or first money prize (assuming there is a money prize)
[ ] Non-members may play in championship tournament and may win first money prize,

but are not eligible to win championship title