The prohibitive cost of entering tournaments

Coming up is the the 122nd Scottish open championship. I take a look at the official site and with squinting eyes I quickly glance at the entry form. Perhaps for unrated patzers there is a section where i can go, pay forty quid, get my butt kicked and go and see some works of art in the National portrait gallery? but nooooo, they want £90-100 entry fee and a membership for Scotland chess. I quickly calculate, 9 rounds, nine days off work, hmmm, 100 pound entry fee, diesel to Edinburgh and back in my gas guzzling truck and before I know it I am down roughly a grand just to get my A$$ kicked by some GM or IM who doesn't need to pay a single bean to get in! Clearly the Scottish open is not for me and the costs are simply prohibitive. Oh well so much for chess in Scotland.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Coming up is the the 122nd Scottish open championship. I take a look at the official site and with squinting eyes I quickly glance at the entry form. Perhaps for unrated patzers there is a section where i can go, pay forty quid, get my butt kicked and go and see some works of art in the National portrait gallery? but nooooo, they want £90-100 entry ...[text shortened]... open is not for me and the costs are simply prohibitive. Oh well so much for chess in Scotland.

Meanwhile, back to skittles at the pub....So you are making about $17 an hour American.

What is your day job? Do you get any gigs playing guitar?

I know where you're coming from, Robbie. I've just decided against ever playing in another OTB tournament. The time and $$$$ needed is not worth the outlay just to win a paltry few hundred. Plus the fact that most class sections are just crawling with sandbagger slimeballs... I now reserve my chess play to the Internet and the chess tables at NYC's Central Park.

Originally posted by sundown316
I know where you're coming from, Robbie. I've just decided against ever playing in another OTB tournament. The time and $$$$ needed is not worth the outlay just to win a paltry few hundred. Plus the fact that most class sections are just crawling with sandbagger slimeballs... I now reserve my chess play to the Internet and the chess tables at NYC's Central Park.

Wow I never knew that sandbagging and skulduggery were so rife. You are so lucky to have chess tables, there is nothing like that here. I heard that Amsterdam is also amazing for chess. My sister in Law lives in Brooklyn, maybe one day i will get to visit New York and the Marshall chess club, it would be 2awesome.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Wow I never knew that sandbagging and skulduggery were so rife. You are so lucky to have chess tables, there is nothing like that here. I heard that Amsterdam is also amazing for chess. My sister in Law lives in Brooklyn, maybe one day i will get to visit New York and the Marshall chess club, it would be 2awesome.

Chess in NYC is in a very slack time right now. The Marshall is the only real Chess Club in the city, other than a few one night a week outfits. If you do come to NYC for some chess, make your first stop the tables in Central Park. However, avoid the tables at Washington Square Park and Union Square Park, they are nothing but slimeball hustlers who only play for money-your money. We don't allow that kind of crap in Central Park

Yes it's crazy the gm and im get free entry and get all the prize winnings and patters like us are out of pocket etc. ah well maybe 1 day we can get to that level.

Originally posted by Smiffy
Yes it's crazy the gm and im get free entry and get all the prize winnings and patters like us are out of pocket etc. ah well maybe 1 day we can get to that level.

I suspect they get in free to attract them to the tournament to lend prestige to the tournament, I dunno.

Trying to follow the Scottish 122nd open on-line, not a single game being transmitted, not a single pgn file to be had. I hope you read this great GP and tell your friend IM Grant that Scottish chess is in the stone age. For goodness sake we can watch Amsterdam Science Park Chess Tournament 2015 on chessbomb and get every single move as it happens but we cannot get a single move from the 122nd Scottish open championship. It begs belief, it really does.

Here in the US they have a rule for most major tournaments that GM's and IM's enter for free, but if they win a prize over a certain amount, they take the EF out of that.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Trying to follow the Scottish 122nd open on-line, not a single game being transmitted, not a single pgn file to be had. I hope you read this great GP and tell your friend IM Grant that Scottish chess is in the stone age. For goodness sake we can watch Amsterdam Science Park Chess Tournament 2015 on chessbomb and get every single move as it happens ...[text shortened]... ot get a single move from the 122nd Scottish open championship. It begs belief, it really does.

You have to try Chessbomb, Robbie - they're covering it. Actually, it is listed there but there are no games given!

Originally posted by ptobler
You have to try Chessbomb, Robbie - they're covering it. Actually, it is listed there but there are no games given!

I tried chessbomb, i even emailed them, called them out for false advertising, asked the people that frequent the forums, nada! centre of the worlds largest doughnut. I even contacted the tournament organisers, they said if i was so concerned i should help to volunteer or make a sizeable donation so that they could buy DGT boards at £600 a board (they must mean the serial DGT boards because USB and Bluetooth ones cost £300) I eventually found some of the games being transmitted on the chessscotland website, I think the top eight boards.

Is having a serial DGT board really necessary for transmitting games over the net? Is there no other way it can be done? How is it possible that a relatively insignificant tournament in Amsterdam, the Amsterdam science park chess tournament can transmit twelve boards with not a single titled player playing but the 122nd Scottish open cannot?

I must just say for clarity sake that this is not a criticism of the tournament or the organisers, but a technical query.

Originally posted by sundown316
Here in the US they have a rule for most major tournaments that GM's and IM's enter for free, but if they win a prize over a certain amount, they take the EF out of that.

Well that's at least some justice!

games are now being transmitted on chessbomb, yay!

How are the elites supposed to keep out the commoners if not by making it too expensive for the average guy to join?

Originally posted by Eladar
How are the elites supposed to keep out the commoners if not by making it too expensive for the average guy to join?

dude have you seen the building that its being played in? check it out, Stewarts Melville College, Queensferry Rd. Its about as posh as you can git! nae riff raff allowed!