Given that you expect only 40 players, why have so many sections? If you have 8 in each section, a 5ss is a bit of overkill. You will likely have pairing problems if one or more withdraw from a section. Class tournaments are okay if you have a wide range of active players and can expect 60+ to show up. Smaller numbers lead to smaller prizes with consequent smaller turnouts. Puny class prizes, especially with the entry fee you are charging, is not much of a draw. I have to suppose that you are expecting only your club members to show up. Generally, I would give club members only a $5 break on the entry fee.
Keep it simple. Have two or at most three sections. An Open, U1800, and U1400 tournament will do fine. Have prizes for top 1600 and top U1200 in the class sections. Example: Open - $150 - 100 Top U2000 $100; U1800 section $140 -100 Top U1600 $100; U1400 section $140 - 100 Top U1200 $100. Total: $1030 in prizes. Your goal is to bring out all of the U1800 rated players to compete as they will be the bulk of your entries.
From a quick look at MSA, it doesn’t seem that Portland gets that many players, so I agree that your based on is a bit high.
Now, for the State Class, you’ve been getting 60-70 players. But it is a State Tile, so that’s expected to draw more.
You really shouldn’t try to run an event in which you know you’ll have to reduce the prize fund. And you should know this by looking at past attendances.
Also, the prize fun is extremely low for the EF. Do you have site costs?
The reason for having all the rounds at the same time control makes sense. The reason I was thinking of having a longer time control for the second day is simply because there are only 2 rounds instead of 3 and thus there is more time.
How would you structure the $1000 prize fund if the higher sections have higher prizes?
If 5 rounds is too many, how about this:
Format: 2-day, 4 round Swiss. One half point bye is available.
With a based on 40 player tournament, and a $30 (club player) entry fee, you have a break even if your expenses are $200 or less. Since most organizers figure in a cushion in case the number of entrants are less than projected, your expenses will likely have to be about $150 or less to break even. For example: rating fee= $30, TD fee= $60 advertising= $10 for flyers/TLA , room rental= $50 to $100. If your room rental and other expenses are higher than that, you are really going to have to rethink having this many sections and the amount of prize money you are offering.
Are you sure you can get 40 players? For an initial tournament, I would be a little cautious. As an organizer, I have a pretty good idea not only of how many would come, but also who would come. I have a list of names of players, a base, who are almost sure to come to every event. From this list I work to attract other players. Some players come only to Grand Prix events, some only to class tournaments, some will come just to cheap events, some will play only in slow time control tournaments, some will play only in a one day tournament. You have to know your crowd very well and appeal to them with a format that they find acceptable.
While I don’t agree that the class tournament format is the way to go given your based on number, for the sake of argument let us go along with planning such a tournament. The prizes in the top section don’t have to be that much higher than the lower sections. In fact, many lower rated players will not be attracted if they see a large portion of the prizes in a class tournament are funneled into the top section. A modest bump higher is okay. If you want to have the top section as 1st $130 2nd $90 and the other 4 sections 1st $120 2nd 80, you will have a $1020 payout. Round numbers are easier to divide at prize giving time.
How much are you willing to guarantee? 50%? 70%? Fully guaranteed? The higher this number is the better the chance of success. When players see prizes cut in half, they are reluctant to come back. The guarantee % should be in the advertising. I usually have a few door prizes (chess books, merchandise, free dinners, gift cards, etc) These figure into your overall expenses. They are appreciated by the players, in my experience, and don’t cost all that much. Builds goodwill for future events.
I think that’s good, although I’d still prefer a ten second increment. A reason why people often schedule fewer/earlier rounds on the last day is to accommodate travelers.
I am having trouble coming up with a different name for the tournament besides the “Portland Chess Club Class Championships”. Not sure I like “half class” which was mentioned earlier in the thread. Thoughts on a different name for the tournament? We already have Portland Chess Club tournaments called the Spring Open, Summer Open, Fall Open, Winter Open, and Club Championship.
Rose City Open? Manchester, NH, used to have the Queen City Open, similarly. That gives the advantage of being able to abandon the class idea. You could do, perhaps, Open, U1900, and U1500. That way you could have, say 1st & 2nd prizes in each section, and smaller class prizes for U2100, U1700, and U1300. This would allow you to have bigger prizes as well, and not have to worry as much about combining sections or having too many rounds.
Keep it at 5 rounds if you can. With more games, it’ll feel like a bigger tournament and may attract more. I would suggest reducing the number of sections though as mentioned. I can’t think of any multi-day tournaments in the Chicago area that are fewer than 5 rounds.
The Winter and Fall opens draw over 100 players and uses only two sections - open and Under 1800. It then provides “under” prizes at several different levels. It’s an interesting dynamic. I think I’d prefer more sections as its rather tough when you draw someone 500 points higher than you. But, it does make for an interesting tournament.
I like the Rose City Open name. There are tournaments called the Gresham Open and Vancouver Open (which are both suburbs of Portland) but nothing called the Portland (or it’s nickname Rose City) Open!
One of the major points behind this tournament is to have sections for lower rated players. Most of the 2-day Portland Chess Club tournaments are Open and U1800 with a few being one section. That’s why I want to have U1700, U1500, and U1300 to give players in all of those categories a chance to win.
I have noticed that when CCA runs a class tournament and then runs one those small, or even huge, “open” tournaments the formats are exactly the same; i.e., One event with the class name is a class tournament. The event labeled as an “open” tournament is not really the traditional “open.” The open tournament has an “open” section, but many other sections for lower rated players to choose from. So, a Rose City Open with an “Open” section, but many other sections for lower rated players to choose from?
Most of our 2-day tournaments at the Portland Chess Club are Open and U1800 (the others being one section). One of the major points behind this tournament is to include at least one section for lower rated players and have a U1900 section so players rated in the 1800’s are no longer always at the bottom of the Open section. Maybe Open, U1900, and U1500 will do.