The tournament attracted 95 players, which is one of the larger fields in recent years. What is also pleasing is that the NSW Open, held in Sydney over the same weekend, attracted a bumper field of 124 players. While obviously not Doeberl Cup sized fields, fields of this size do give organisers the flexibility to improve conditions and prizes in future years.
Jones,G - Levi,E [D02]
Victorian Open, 07.06.2009
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nc6 3.d4 Bg4 4.Bg2 Qd7 5.c4 e6 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qa4 Bd6 8.Qxc4 Nf6 9.e4 e5 10.d5 Ne7 11.Bg5 0-0 12.Nbd2 Nh5 13.Qb3 b6 14.Nc4 Ng6 15.a4 Bh3 16.Nfd2 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 h6 (D)
18.Qf3 Nhf4+ 19.Bxf4 exf4 20.h4 fxg3 21.fxg3 Rae8 22.Qf5 Qd8 23.Nf3 Bc5 24.Qg4 Bd6 25.Nd4 Ne5 26.Nxe5 Bxe5 27.Nc6 Qd6 28.Rf2 f5 29.Rxf5 Rxf5 30.Qxf5 Bxg3 31.Qg4 Be5 32.Qh5 g6 33.Qxh6 Bf4 34.e5 Qxd5+ 0-1
4 comments:
Shaun,
Yes, the participation numbers looks good but the reality differed as to playing experience. In a big swiss of only 7 rounds, the calibre of opponents swings too dramatically from one round to the next. I am wondering whether there needs to be smaller swisses and more tiered-rating groups. More work for arbiters, that's for sure and more headache for tournament organisers in planning but ......
Just an observation from an inexperienced player/chess parent.
While this has been the norm in events in the US and the UK, up until recently the size of the fields in most Australian weekenders has made this impractical. Nonetheless in almost all instances big tournaments that move to this format (eg Doeberl Cup 20 years ago, ANU Open, NSW Open more recently) seem to benefit from the change.
As an arbiter/organiser I don't find the extra work all that onerous, and have no problem running two or three tiered events.
Wouldn't it make sense to double accelerate round 1 so that players get paired against others closer to their strength?
Round 1 of a 7 rounder would be then be the equivalent of round 3 in a 9 rounder with the previous rounds' results having gone to seed.
I'm not sure if FIDE have rules concerning where accelerated pairings are permitted in FIDE events
As to the calibre of opponents if you lost your previous game then you get the opponent you deserve.
However there is the problem when a lower rated player is doing really well. If a higher rated player loses to them then that player's rating suffers as a reault of the lower rated player's published rating when perhaps ratings ought to be calculated factoring in performance ratings too.
I also think there is a good case for smaller swisses.
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