That would be pretty ironic.
Hasn’t made it to the Tournaments Received page for Fla. + September yet.
Tournaments don’t show on the ‘Events Received’ list until they have been submitted for rating.
I assume the reason the Miami event has already been submitted to FIDE has to do with the fact that the cutoff for the October FRL was Sep 15th.
The latest version of SwisSys has the ability to create the FIDE submission format file (sometimes called the Krause format), which cuts the amount of time it takes for the USCF office to prepare an event to submit to FIDE. (I think Tom Doan is planning a similar feature in an upcoming release of WinTD.)
It’s possible that the chief TD (Franc Guadalupe, as I recall) sent that file to Walter Brown before the tournament was ready for USCF rating.
The turnout is even worse than we had speculated on this forum. Using the crosstables at http://www.themiamichessopen.com, I came up with 195 players plus 27 in the cheaper U1100/Unrated section. My total includes reentries and players with cross-section pairings, so the net is probably closer to 210 or 215.
Michael Aigner
So much for my estimate based on thinking there were 30 people in every section. Only the Open and U1700 sections broke 30 people, even with re-entries and cross-section pairings. Pretty pathetic.
They definitely need to make some changes or else cancel this tournament. The prize fund fiasco this year will also hurt, since many people are likely to skip the tourney next year just because of that.
I still say if they move this thing to the middle of winter, they’ll do much better, for three reasons:
First, they’ll avoid hurricane season (Duh!!!).
Second, they’ll attract a ton of northern chess players who are looking for an excuse to come south out of the snow and ice that time of year.
Third, this thing began a mere nine days after the state championship ended, and there was also the Southern Open two weeks before that. I think all three were hurt by holding them so close together this year. Given that the state championship is always Labor Day weekend, the organizers of the other two tourneys are definitely to blame for that.
But again, winter is the least busy time of year for major tournaments in Florida. For instance, there are no big annual events between mid-February and mid-late April, so March would be an ideal time for it. I really think the timing of this thing is its biggest weakness.
–Fromper
The 2008 U.S. Senior Open was in late April in FL. I am told that a deal has been struck to bring it back to FL for at least the next two years, maybe three. It will probably be in Boca Raton, where the 2008 event was held.
– Hal Terrie
The rating report for the Miami Chess Open was submitted by Franc Guadalupe a few minutes ago. It should be rated and posted on the web within a few hours.
I didn’t realize the Senior Open would be back for the next two years. Given how many retirees live in the area, at least in the winter, South Florida’s probably the best place in the country to hold that particular tourney. They’ll get more locals playing in it than if it’s held anywhere else.
Also, I believe the Space Coast Open was the week before the Senior Open this year. Prior to that, the US Amateur Team South is held mid-February every year. But there usually aren’t any major tournies in Florida between those, which leaves a two month span from mid-February to mid-April which would be a good time to hold the Miami Open if they were looking to move it. By March, the northerners would probably love to come down to get out of the cold, and they’d attract more Floridians than they did this year, because it wouldn’t be competing with other state-wide tournaments.
–Fromper
I was in Florida for vacation over the past two weeks and I was shocked how cheap hotel rooms were. I was able to get ocean facing suites for $59/night via the internet. Those same rooms probably go for $250+ during the tourist seasons, which in Florida are: summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day), winter (Thanksgiving to President’s Day or beyond) and the entire spring break period.
In other words, it may be difficult to book a reasonable venue for a large chess tournament during the tourist seasons. Keep in mind that out-of-town players won’t want to play in a semi-remote place near a swamp, but will expect some decent downtown or beach hotel (or else they won’t come).
Certainly March and early April would be among the worst possible months because of all of the spring break tourists.
Michael Aigner