Tuesday 17 April 2007

Doeberl Cup - SIO Future Observations

Two successful international chess events have been wrapped up and it is worth looking at what may or mat not happen next year.
Both event organisers are committed to working together to achieve the sort of outcomes that occurred this years. This means co-ordinating prize lists, conditions, and timetables.
In terms of tournament format there is a strong push to extending the Doeberl Cup to 9 rounds. How this would work in practice is likely to be as follows. The Major, Minor and Senior would remain as 7 round events, and still be held from Friday to Monday. The Premier would become a 9 round event and begin on Thursday and finish on Monday. For players who either cannot spare the extra day, or aren't looking for norms, then two half point byes would be available for the first 2 rounds.
It has also been suggested that the SIO start a day late (ie Wednesday), giving players a rest day between the tournaments. This is up to the organisers of the SIO, but it hasn't been ruled out.
One further suggestion worth looking at is the status of these two successful events, in relation to the struggling Australian Chess Federation title events. This years Australian Open attracted a very poor turnout, and the ACF has yet to even find an organiser for the upcoming Australian Championships. One idea being floated around is the the title of Australian Open Champion go to the player with the highest combined score over the two events. There probably wouldn't be any extra prize money to go with the title, but you would get your name on the trophy.

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