What exactly are the rules for an “open” tournament, or are there any
set in stone?
We are hosting our first Saturday Swiss, and we jumped on the open
bandwagon since everyone else does. Almost every tournament in my
area is called “open.”
However, I just talked with an experienced TD who doesn’t like letting
folks play up. His logic made sense:
It’s not fair to higher rated players who have earned their rank to
have to risk a loss with no potential point gain. (But is this offset
by a potentially easy win?)
If I have 30 people in ten man sections, and one from the middle
section wants to play in the open, doesn’t this make for a hard
problem? I mean, it wouldn’t be fair to move #10 player down into
the middle section, but how do you do the pairings?
I thought about perhaps advertising that to play in the open section, you
must not be more than 100 points below that section’s bottom player.
I need opinions and hopefully facts. Does calling a tournament “Open”
have one meaning specifically, or is there some leeway? I doubt most
will choose to play up, but you never know. I want to be ready either
way.
The short answer is that there are no “rules” about what you can call a tournament. As long as anyone can play in some section, you are free to call it an “Open.” (Compare the “World Open.”) Calling the top section an “Open” when you do not allow people to play up is a bad idea because it is deceptive. Call it the “Premier” or some such.
As to whether you ought to limit the top section to players above a certain rating – there is no simple answer. How many players do you expect? How wide a rating spread? Personally, I find restricted top sections (and multiple sections in general) philosophically distasteful, but there are practical considerations. If you have several players in the 2400+ range, and some in the 1600- who want to play up – well, those games are simply not competitive. On the other hand, if the top of your field is 2100, it’s not so clear that Experts should get special protection against B-players.
I do not quite understand your example (2). If your sections are assigned by rating, there’s no problem – the first ten go in the top section, the next ten in the second, etc. If you have an Open and Reserve, why would you drop someone to the second section? (And why should the guy from the second section get to choose where he will play, while the bottom player in section 1 does not?) You’ll have an odd number, but this can always happen.
“Open” implies, and states that anyone can play in the event or section, regardless of rating, rank or status as long as they pay the appropriate entry fee and memberships. (By the way, “Open” also implies that a person may obtain any requirement, such as membership, without any bias by paying the appropriate fees.) Any high rated player realizes this and knows that they may be playing “down” the first couple of rounds.
(One way to try to reduce the disparity is to use accelerated pairings, though personally I do not like to do so.)
Whether to have an “open” section or not is entirely up to the organizer (you may have a “Premier” or “master” section that has a lower limit.) However, if you call a section “Open” you must be prepared to have the occasional 1200 rated player enter the event.
Does an “Open” tournament require you to have an “Open” section?
Although not required specifically, the implication is there. In my opinion, “Open” anywhere in the title of the event implies that anyone may compete for the top prizes, thus the section with the greatest prizes should be an “open” section.
If you have sections, as you describe, where you are assigning 10-man sections, do NOT call the event “Open”. State clearly in the advertising how you intend to split the sections and stick to it. (“Quads” and “Octals” are common examples). “Ten player in sections by rating” in the ad will do, then do not allow anyone to move up or down. It would be best not to call the event an “open” even though anyone might play (in some section).
In multi section events, the top section is often called “OPEN” which, unless otherwise restricted in the advertisements, indicates that the section is “open to all” regardless of rating. Other sections in the event may be called “RESERVE” (open to u1800, for example) “AMATEUR” (open to u1600, for example).
Sometimes, unrated players are allowed to play in the OPEN section only, and if this is the case, it must be stated in the ads.
I’ve always allowed players to play up. In my example above, if a 1700 rated player wanted to play in the open, or if a 1400 wanted to play in the u1800 instead of the u1600, I would allow it. Of course, no player could play “down”.
Though you make a point that the top players have no rating points to gain and a lot to lose from the lower rateds, I’ve never found that a convincing argument. I xxxxxxx bleeds for those poor masters who are afraid of losing to the underlings.
Another option is to charge something extra to play up. I’ve held 6 section tournaments with EF of $25 with +$10 for late fee and +$4 to play up one section, +$8 to play up 2 sections. That was useful during the registration process because it allowed me to catch and to check that I had people in the correct section. Notice I made the late fee different than any of the multiples to play up so that any fee would uniquely specify what section the player was to enter. This allows people to play up, but reduces it to those who are serious and improves the tournaments finances - and profitable tournaments tend to pay out better prizes to those top players who have to play down.
A open, is having anyone that wants to play in the section having the same right. How to say what is a open is to understand what is a closed tournament. The closed tournaments, like some state championships, only members that live in the state able to play and win the title. Having a closed club championship, with only club members able to play and win the club championship.
Some open tournaments will also have sections, like a reserve or booster section. There is no problem with a large tournament having a reserve or booster. Its’ just players that want to play in their rating field. If they are in the reserve of booster section, they give up all rights to win the title of chess champion. If a 1000 player players in the booster section, the player gives up any right to win the title of chess champion. If the 1000 player wants to play in the open, will have to win the tournament to win the title.
I agree with this in the abstract, but there is no rule requiring it, and there are a number of large tournaments which are not set up this way.
A possible compromise is to charge extra for players below a certain rating entering the top section. I tried this for a while, but eventually decided it was more trouble than it was worth.
I guess I don’t understand the format of your tournament. If you are having nine round round robins (the only logical reason I can think of for ten man sections) then I think that you need to do it by rating. Otherwise, there is no particular need to fix the number of players per section. There is always a way to deal with an odd player.
