Report from the Director of Play
31 October 2006
This year’s tournament programme has again been successful with all tournaments, in particular our rated tournaments, attracting a good level of participation. Table 1 reveals that 2006 saw an historic high level of entries to The Gap’s tournaments. I attribute the high participation levels to the continuity and tradition of our tournaments, and our external publicity that has successfully attracted new members. This publicity occurs chiefly via the website and the column in the Western Echo local newspaper).
Table 1: Number of players entering & completing at least 50% of games
|
Year |
Flood |
Hour |
Allegro |
Lightning |
Total |
|
2006 |
18 |
16 |
12 |
11 |
57 |
|
2005 |
15 |
16 |
12 |
9 |
52 |
|
2004 |
14 |
12 |
14 |
11 |
51 |
|
2003 |
15 |
14 |
10 |
8 |
47 |
|
2002 |
10 |
11 |
10 |
9 |
40 |
|
2001 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
4 |
30 |
|
2000 |
12 |
14 |
7 |
9 |
42 |
|
1999 |
9 |
12 |
9 |
8 |
38 |
|
1998 |
14 |
7 |
12 |
14 |
47 |
|
1997 |
16 |
16 |
11 |
12 |
55 |
|
1996 |
13 |
16 |
13 |
10 |
52 |
|
1995 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
38 |
Tournaments commenced and were completed close to schedule. The Flood Cup and One Hour tournaments were submitted for rating with the Australian Chess Federation (ACF) so most players who competed in these tournaments will have an official ACF rating in the December 2006 list. The Allegro tournament will also be submitted for rapid rating once it is completed.
Major tournaments conducted during 2006 include the following:
In addition to these I was organiser and arbiter for the 45 Minute and Prize Night tournaments, while Marty Chadwick ran the St David’s Day tournament. These are the more relaxed of our tournaments, with the aim to make participation fun and enjoyable.
The Gap played Samford and Bullwinkle in a series of interclub matches. These nights were successful, and have been a forum in which players can play serious games without having to be concerned about loss of rating points and tournament standing. Interest was so high that for the second Bullwinkle game The Gap had 18 players show up to play for the club. Only two years ago The Gap could only get 3 players to travel to play Samford.
Report from the Director of Play
As arbiter, two serious issues arose during 2006. The first issue was unauthorised absences and withdrawals from tournaments. Without prior advice, two players withdrew from the One Hour tournament, forfeiting games to opponents. Being repeat offenders the committee decided to impose a penalty by which the two players were made ineligible to enter the 2006 Allegro Tournament and the 2007 Flood Cup. This penalty satisfied the offenders as being not too draconian, while also satisfying the club membership that something was done to address the problem.
The second issue was a series of challenges to the Swiss pairings as produced by the Swissperfect program. As arbiter I decided to let club members decide whether they wanted to solely rely on Swissperfect (even if wrong) or allow challenges to the draw. The membership voted to uphold Swissperfect’s draw with the majority stating that they preferred not to rely on a challenge (which may or may not be made) and that at least Swissperfect is impartial, albeit imperfect. This has created a precedent that will only be over-ruled by the club membership agreeing to use another method or program for creating Swiss pairings.
Related to this second issue is the way that we run our tournaments. While it is my job to see that the FIDE Law of Chess 2005 are adhered to in our tournaments, I also recognised that we are (to borrow Ray’s terminology) “not playing for sheep stations”. I believe that common sense is an important character trait for a chess arbiter to posses, and that there are times for discretion to be exercised to ensure that farcical results do not arise from inflexible interpretation of the chess laws. I also think it is important that club members come away from tournament play with sense that a fair contest has been had over the chessboard. At various times I have discussed my views on this subject with members and have found widespread support for my “firm and logical, but with commonsense” approach to dealing with situations as they arise.
In 2007 I foresee a similar tournament calendar to this year, and welcome any suggestions as to how the programme can be improved. The 2006 prize night is scheduled for Friday 26 January 2007.
Thanks to all club members for making 2006 a successful year for the club.
Andrew Robinson
Director of Play (DOP)
The Gap Chess Club Inc.