If memory serves, even players for whom a last-round forfeit clinches first in their rating group can be perturbed at receiving that forfeit. The US Open in the mid(late?) '80s (a year before the Philadelphia US Open) had the leading unrated clinch that prize when the expert that was his opponent didn’t show in the final round. The unrated wanted to actually play a game. However, I think either B-player on the next two higher boards would have been fine with a last round forfeit giving them clear first for the B prizes.
The only time I ever won any money playing in the US Open, in 1988, where I won a tiny share of the C place money, (something like $13.75), it was in part because I had not one but TWO no-show forfeit wins in the event,
I’d have rather had those two games, they were worth far more than $13.75 to me.
I’m shocked!
You were once a C player???
Those who forfeit without notice are not always newcomers. There are a couple of players in this area who are notorious for not showing up for the Sunday morning round of a two-day tournament.
Once, these two players were both in the 1-point (out of 3) group, so I figured they wouldn’t show. With just a minor (but otherwise unjustified) transposition in the pairings, I was able to easily pair them against each other. Sure enough, they didn’t show, and nobody was inconvenienced.
Bill Smythe
Yes!
Note to self… No more saurcasm…
I sure wouldn’t. The EF is the least of it. I frequently drive up to 6 or 7 hours to play and spend a night or two in a hotel. I don’t do this for the chance at prize money – I do it to play rated games of chess. On a cost per game basis, that’s a lot of money to be cheated out of because of somebody couldn’t be troubled to officially withdraw from a tournament.
That’s my feeling exactly. I came to play. I didn’t drive 5 hours and pay for two nights at a hotel just to sit around one round.
I will say I had a good experience with everyone I did play.
Fines and score penalties would probabbly dissuade some people from attending future events which is bad for the organizer. As an alternative to these maybe a time penalty is in order. The person who forfeits would lose sometime to start the first game of his next tournament. Maybe 10 minutes or 10% of his time for a first offense. 20 minutes or 20% of his time for the second. 30 and 30% for the third, and so on… Eventually he would have to take notice and fetch the TD.
Time penalties are trivial in anything longer then game/60. Fines work, and many players forget they forfeited in an earlier tournament. If someone has traveled to play in an event, I seriously doubt they’re going to turn around and go home because they have to pay a fine. However they will think twice about just leaving without notifying TD.
So, you get a point in the tournament standings, but it’s my understanding that ratings are not effected by forfeit wins, correct? If you want to punish people for no-shows, hit them where many players place so much emphasis - the rating. My father once had to sit for an HOUR to claim the forfeit in a tournament, to get the point, but his rating was unaffected. I’m sure we would have fewer no-shows if people knew it would hit their ratings.
I am not so sure at the higher level that would be as effective as you think. I could see it easily be abused if a player knew if he lost points that way he would be dropped to the next rating class.
How about upping the entry fee and giving that amount back to all players who play all of their scheduled games?
That’s happened to many of us, and I imagine that few of us sat at the board for the whole time. There are actually several legitimate reasons for a forfeit loss, probably mostly involving TD error, and it is hardly fair to manipulate the rating system that way. Plus, if you were paired against a GM who didn’t show up, would it improve the accuracy of the rating system to treat it as though you had beaten the GM in a real game?
Alex Relyea
Well, you could lower the no-show’s rating without adding points to the player who received the forfeit. If you wanted to give Ken Sloan and Mike Nolan apoplexy.
It’s just plain false advertising. You paid for five games and got four. Demand a full refund and this deceitful tournament management will stop.
When the Westchester Chess League was in existence we took to including a forfeit fee because too many teams would have no shows, and people weren’t getting a game. If a team went the entire season without forfeits they got the fee back. I’m don’t recall if it was effective or not. I think some clubs just swallowed the cost of the fee.
Demand a refund and you’ll be laughed at. Can’t we confine ourselves to serious suggestions?
Forfeit fees sometimes work in small events, but I doubt they’d be very practical in something like the Chicago Open. (Feel like writing 700 checks?)
CCA wasn’t being deceitful. They can’t control a person who just decides to disappear without telling anyone.
What a great way to sandbag! Maybe we can sell NEGATIVE rating points on Ebay too!
I played in a Chicago Open 5 or so years ago and this happened to me – I was out of the money, probably losing rating points, and had a poor performance in a section that the last year I almost tied for second. Even though I didn’t really have to travel for the tournament, and even though my parents paid the entry fee, I left the event with a bitter taste in my mouth; I’d much rather have gotten the game.
One thing that could help is an end-of-tournament rebate – I played in a free qualifier in high school where at the start everyone gave what I think was a 50$ check, and at the end, if you played the entire event, you got your money back. Similar ideas could maybe be done for something smaller (10-15$) and would probably work best in small events.