When the USCF accepts the bid or chooses the place for this tournament will it be listed at that time? I have to pick vacation time well ahead of schedule and of course making travel arrangements ahead of time also helps with the costs as they usually get more expensive as time goes by. Yes I know it is about 14 months away but was curious about when they would have it firmed up as the do the US Open which I see goes out a long ways.
My understanding is that bids for this event are due July 1 of this year. The decision would probably be made within a month or so after that.
I am part of a group preparing a bid for Massachusetts. The potential dates are still unsettled but it is likely that they would be in the Fall, rather than Spring or Summer. I believe there is another group, headed by National Open organizer Al Losoff, which is also going to bid, perhaps using the cruise-ship format.
– Hal Terrie
Most National Events http://www.uschess.org/content/view/10015/95 seem to be listed as far out as possible.
Alex Relyea
I like the cruise idea, depending on where it departs from.
Haven’t the US Senior’s held on cruise ships historically had lower attendance than those held on land?
Don’t know and it’s not really a issue for me. I’d be more likely to do the tournament in a cruise format than on land.
I prefer to play on land. Cruises are too expensive for most of us senior players. I liked the Senior Open when it was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville. If one was so inclined and felt the need to go on a boat, one could still take a ride down the river on the General Jackson steamboat. A bunch of the participants that year did that. There is also a boat ride inside the resort. That was one of the most enjoyable tournaments I have ever played in.
It may surprise you to know that despite the fact that yours was the post immediately preceding mine I was not addressing the question to you. I don’t expect you to know everything, nor do I think the answer to that question would matter to you as (at most) a potential player. It does, however, potentially influence whether a bid is likely to be accepted if there are multiple bids. Moreover, someone contemplating a bid but not aware of historical facts would probably benefit from such information.
I am with Mr. Magar. My budget can’t sustain a cruise event.
The fact that the tournament has been held on a cruise says that on at least one prior occasion this wasn’t an obstacle. After all, you can’t please everyone. Some folks think Orlando or Indy are great, but won’t go to New Orleans. I’ll consider going to the Senior Open in 2016 wherever it’s held, but I’ve stated my preference.
As to cost, it’s not clear to me which would be more expensive. That would depend on the deal cut at a land venue and with a cruise line. When you consider travel cost (might be the same or similar either way), room rates and meals which are generally included on cruise lines, it may not be more expensive to go cruising. For those who stay at really cheap, off market, hotels the land venue would clearly be their choice.
All things considered, I’ll likely (hopefully) be able to afford either and like the idea of a cruise because of the food and because there will likely be non-chess people as well as chess people on a cruise with whom to socialize. Shuffleboard anyone. 
Not necessarily. I looked on MSA, and while I couldn’t find every year (not sure why, maybe not held some years/weird name for it?), I found most since 1992.
From the description of the tournament site on MSA, there have been four ‘cruise years’ (2014, 2001, 1996, 1992). Those events drew 34, 44, 40 and 69 players respectively. By contrast, the ‘on dry land’ years have had attendance of 31, 41, 43, 45, 49, 52, 54, 57, 61, 67, 78, 80 and 89 players.
Bottom line: from the results on MSA, this tournament has yet to attract over 100 players and usually draws less than 60 players.
That’s an average of 46.75 vs 55.6. Whether 4 data points is enough to draw conclusions is debatable, but the fact that the largest turnout was in the first cruise suggests it may have been an anomaly due to the novelty of the event. Obviously there are many more factors involved.
I’d be more concerned about the question as to why we can’t draw more players to this event. The Georgia Senior has done poorly in recent years due to a number of (in my opinion) self-inflicted wounds, but in its earlier years it regularly drew 20-28 players. There are states that do worse and states that do better. I’d think we ought to be able to top 100. Holding it too close to the US Open could be a factor; it’s hard to justify two chess vacations within a month.
It looks like both have declined to a similar low number in recent years. It looks like the cruise cost is not much of a factor, if it is at all. That said, now you’re more concerned with why we can’t draw more players to this event. Fair enough. I’m thinking there might be a malaise that’s been there for years with older players. Also what was the size of the senior pool back in the mid-1990’s compared to now. I suspect it’s a smaller pool of potential players, but I’ll let someone else find the numbers. I have a new murder mystery I’m going to start that will no doubt be a more interesting read. Merlot and murder in the bedroom. Nite all. 
Randy gave no dates for the land events, so your conclusion about a decline in recent years is not supported by the above. In point of fact, Houston 2011 and 2012 were 61 and 74, respectively, among the larger turnouts. These were held in mid-late July, casting some doubt about my theory regarding proximity to the US Open. Tarrytown NY 2013 was 57 over May/June weekend, held in conjunction with US Junior. So the three most recent land events have been in the upper half of attendance.
As to the pool of eligible players, I wouldn’t assume it is shrinking. It might be, but you also have to consider “practical eligibility”. At 50 one is eligible but more likely to be at a stage in one’s family life or career where it’s impractical. I know I could not have considered playing when I was 50 but now could. Those who joined as teenagers during the Fischer boom fall into that category.
Finally, I think the interest in senior events probably has increased in the last 20 years. More states are offering them. As the number of strong juniors increases I think this trend will increase. Some don’t like losing to the kids, while others can handle that but dislike the behavior of kids who are chessically ready for open events but lack the maturity to behave appropriately (this may be 20% perception and 80% reality, but I’ve certainly been annoyed by kids acting like kids at times). I really enjoyed the last US Open when I played only a couple of kids. It was more like the Arizona Senior as I played four local seniors with 2100+ ratings. I loved that!
Yesterday, when I posted some of the numbers from past US Senior Chess Open tournaments, I noted that I could not readily locate some years based on obvious searches on MSA. I went back and Googled those years and, with the exception of 1993, was able to gather enough information to lead to a successful search on MSA or to gather the information from past US Chess press releases/tournament reports.
I have provided the information for all years (save 1993) from 1992-2014. This includes year, location and number of players. It should be noted that it is evident from the description of the location of the tournament that three years were ‘cruise years’ (1992, 1996 and 2001). 1992 is listed as an Alaskan cruise, 1996 as a Caribbean cruise, and 2001 just as a ‘cruise.’ However, I know for a fact that 2014 was also a cruise, but its location was listed as Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Thus, it is possible that some other(s) of the tournaments listed below were also cruises (with some obvious exceptions - I’m 99.99 percent positive Des Plaines, IL; Nashville, TN, Tulsa, OK; and Denver, CO were not cruises. There are others as well).
From the data, it would appear that location (and probably time of year) have more impact on turnout that any evident demographic changes. The four biggest turnouts have been in 1995, 2002, 2008 and 2011 - pretty spread out. The biggest was in 2002, and the two smallest were in 2000 and 2003. No discernable pattern there.
2014 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 34
2013 Tarrytown, NY 57
2012 Houston, TX 61
2011 Houston, TX 74
2010 Boca Raton, FL 49
2009 Tulsa, OK 54
2008 Boca Raton, FL 78
2007 Palm Springs, FL 45
2006 Nashville, TN 43
2005 Las Vegas, NV 63
2004 Boca Raton, FL 67
2003 Wilmington, DE 31
2002 Ventura, CA 89
2001 Cruise 44
2000 Des Plaines, IL 20
1999 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 41
1998 Denver, CO 45
1997 Deerfield Beach, FL 52
1996 Caribbean cruise, 40
1995 Las Vegas, NV 80
1994 Phoenix, AZ 54
1993
1992 Alaska cruise, 69
It would seem to me that cruises appear to be much more poorly attended. 1992 was the first one and seems to be an outlier; it was a novelty. The other three cruises fared poorly. Two of the other three were markedly lower than the prior year, and the other followed a land event with an extremely poor turnout of 20.
A senior in California, Las Vegas, Florida or Texas would seem to be the most promising land locations. I’d be thrilled with any of those options - especially Vegas since I will live there!
The data I present is constrained by the fact that it starts when the MSA data is available (1992). I do not know if there were cruises before that (which would mean that 1992 may not have been ‘a novelty.’). I’m not quite as willing to suggest they are ‘much more poorly attended.’ First, the numbers are small - and just as the theory of large numbers suggests it is hard to move the dial (on averages) when numbers are large, there can be a similar issue with small numbers. In this case, the bottom tier of attendance goes 45, 45, 44, 43, 41, 40, 34, 31, 20. If you added just a few players to the ‘cruise 44’ and the ‘cruise 40’ you could elevate their rank order considerably. Second, even as presented, one of the cruises was the fifth largest in this data set - and the claim it was a novelty is an assertion not really supported by facts in evidence.
I would suggest the sample size for cruises as opposed to the others and the small variation among many of these tournaments doesn’t lend itself to a ‘much more poorly attended’ claim.
As one who would qualify to play in this tournament, I could see a set of circumstances where I could even sell this to my wife - based on the cruise part of it. Besides, I’ve been on a cruise before - by the time you factor in hotel stay, meals and other entertainment/recreation, I’m not convinced a cruise is all that more expensive.
Alex Relyea pointed out that the 2015 event was held in Schaumburg, IL and drew 74 players. I didn’t catch it on my original search for events because it had a weird name on MSA. Thanks, Alex!
That event is tied for the fourth largest and did much better than the prior Illinois rendition - which was the smallest in the data set (20 in 2000 in Des Plaines, IL).
Valid points. I would point out, however, that any land event has the potential to pull in local players, something lacking for a cruise. For those players it is indisputably cheaper!
I’m not opposed to a cruise, but a potential bidder needs to evaluate whatever information they can.
Much more?? Depends on your definition of “much.” It doesn’t appear to be much of a difference to me. I think what likely drives attendance more so than land or cruise staging is the staging point. The attendance is higher in larger markets generally. So, it would make sense to consider cruising from major markets such as NYC, Boston, Houston, San Diego, Vancouver, etc.
That said, travel to one of those points can involve some serious expenses for transportation regardless of whether or not the event is surf or turf. It might make sense to run regional senior tournaments and have a final with the top three to five players from each event. There appears to be enough regional interest that one of the existing tournaments in each region could be used as the regional qualifier. That would potentially increase the pool for the local promoter and generate a field with enough depth that if numbers two and four decide not to go to the national event, their place can be taken by others. For that final, I’d suggest a market that is also a major transportation hub so as to maximize ease of travel and keep ravel costs as low as possible.
Lastly, sponsorship with a good prize list and other sponsor funded perks could be used as a marketing tool. Some possible senior event sponsors off the top of my head: AARP, Big Pharma involved in Alzheimer’s research (chess does keep the dementia away), food products like Ensure (not certain I’d have a can of Ensure at my board), Monster, Red Bull, a hearing aid company, an audio company (Bose, Sony, Phillips, Skull Daddy earbuds for each competitor), a senior related online dating service. A marketing professional would have a field day promoting this, IMO.
An equally valid point about local events being able to draw local players. It would be worthwhile to take a look at the percentage of players at these events that is local.