Not to promote a particular “kitchen & cooking” show, but I saw season one and the choice of the winner came down to A. Who was extremely skilled, very well organized, presented an extremely delicious menu, but, was predictable, and not very creative, or
B. extremely skilled, not as well organized, better cook, and continuously creative with new dishes. Obviously (at least to me), B won.
So I have been considering am I myself, more like A or B ? Certainly there is something to be said for a high level of competence, using tried and true methods, resulting in a consistent product, BUT, in so doing so, do we too often discount new, and perhaps far
more creative ideas in how as a federation we organize and direct our events?
The thread Greg Maness started about an Armegeddon-style tournament is a great example of creativity, as was the time-odds suggestion made on the same thread. Now I think creativity like this (i.e. something that makes the event unratable) probably is best done at the local level, not for national events. But adding new events is definitely something US Chess can do, as long as we don’t over-saturate the market.
The National Senior Tournament of Champions, added to the scholastic trio of invitational events this year, is a great example. Some didn’t like the idea, even saying they didn’t think it would get off the ground. “You’ll be lucky if you get 20 states”, some said. Nope. 42 players, including 4 GMs. The cut was in the 2100s. By any measure it was a rousing success. Much can be done to get more and stronger participation, to be sure, but it was a great event. Thanks to Chuck Unruh for championing it at the EB level and to David Grimaud and Jon Haskel for making it happen. And to the many states who held their first senior event - that’s part of the payoff from this sort of event.
But there is much scope for creativity beyond just the types of events we hold. Creativity should key on how we can draw more people into the game, and that does not have to be US Chess rated events. Anything we can do to help clubs grow and to outreach to people who know and enjoy the game outside of the club setting is worth considering. Of course our resources are finite.
I was looking at the latest metro area report and Lincoln NE has had just one tournament in the past year while Omaha has had about 24 of them. But part of the problem appears to be that the sport director for the Cornhusker State Games is putting in ‘Omaha’ rather than ‘Lincoln’ as the location. I’ll have to drop him a note asking him to change that. I wonder if that affects other events? (Our ability to analyze data is only as good as the data we have.)
But I don’t think there are a lot of events being organized in Lincoln these days, the lack of affordable sites is probably the main cause. Also, the two main organizers, myself and Gary Marks, are no longer running events. (Gary died and I just lost interest.)
It’s more like 60-70 miles, Bill, depending on where you start and where you’re heading.
A recent round trip from my house in SW Lincoln to the Omaha airport (north of downtown) was 142 miles.
Lincoln and Omaha people have a long-standing rivalry, dating back to when the Omaha folks tried to keep Lincoln (then known as Lancaster) from becoming the state capital. They offered to let Lancaster become the state capital if they would change the city name to Lincoln. (This was in 1867, shortly after his assassination.) The Omaha people figured the Lancaster city leaders, mostly Democrats, would never agree to change the name.
Back in the days when I was playing, I drove to Omaha for a few tournaments, and Omaha people would come to Lincoln for most of the tournaments I ran, but I think having more events in Lincoln would increase the local turnout. I just don’t know who’s going to do it.
I doubt the problem is unique to here.
People say we have a shortage of certified directors, but I think we have an even bigger shortage of people willing to serve as organizers.
Speaking of drive times-- players are indeed fortunate in the DFW area with usually at least 4+ tournaments per weekend. As a result, driving from Plano to Murphy (about 15-20 min) is a LONG drive for
some.