Event in Beijing.

[tommyc]

Tommy - a message from Sir Alan – You’re Hired !!!..........Hmmmmm if im hired WHOS fired ...... BUT .....how much is Alan Sugar.PAYING??

Howevr its a bad day ,it is a shame ...and i wonder whos next for the political put-down!!

[liam stephens]

BUT .....how much is Alan Sugar.PAYING??

Just a spoonful, maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Pbd3RSbLo

[Ingo_Zachos]

In my personal opinion the number of officials must be increase. I think this number which we have today - 4, was accepted when the total number of players was around 20. However, this number (of players) was dramatically jumped in the past few weeks.

...

Alex

Yes, I also think that four officials may not be enough, but as as I think the duties of referees can't be executed by four persons, but as me and Igor Martynov today counted the number of players from the former Soviet Union (16 out of 46 if Igor Martynov and Alex Moiseyev are counted)is high.
Some of them most likely do not speak English, so a further referee that speaks Russian and English would be ideal, and maybe someone entirely occupied with the daily bulletin would be nice, too, but I think with a little help from the players we can manage that, too.
With a printer and a PC equipped with Checker Board, TurboDambase or Aurora Borealis it should be no problem to present the games with Diagrams and "quick &dirty" notes to the players and the press on the next day, together with a few anecdotes, the ranking, the pairing and a small daily footage.
I did that at the German Open 2007 and will do it on the German Open 2008 as well, so I might offer my assistance here as well if you need further help, Alex.


with the hope that everything works fine for Beijing,

Ingo Zachos

P:S There r five Ladies (Galsum Alieva, Pat Breen, Javzan Gerulchuluun, Jan Mortimer and Kim Willis) listed, so maybe in 2012 a Ladies event could be staged.
If we had an additional Ladies event, Germany would have sent most likely sent two additional players!

[tommyc]

"so a further referee that speaks Russian and English" ............................Sounds like a job for Alex, give the other guys a chance!!

[Ingo_Zachos]

"so a further referee that speaks Russian and English" ............................Sounds like a job for Alex, give the other guys a chance!!

I thought you were the right man for the job, Tommy.
If you get 15 whiskeys and the russian gets 15 vodkas, I bet you would understand him very well, would you ?

))

[Jay H]

"If you get 15 whiskeys and the russian gets 15 vodkas, I bet you would understand him very well, would you ?"

Sounds like time to me....

[tommyc]

Alex couldnt drink 15 vodkas................Ingo!! Leave it to Jay H.

[tommyc]

BEIJING GAMES 2008


One other thing that hasnt been alluded to and im not aware if any directives too either ::::is the Format this Ty will take, given there will be some weak players, and some top raters ;;;how will the 1st or 2nd rd draws be made.

Hopefully someone up there will see in advance that "some " of the strong players will be more -or-less guaranteed 4 match points in the 1st and 2nd rds against poor opposition that may have a later bearing on results...and some wont.....this is a worry to me ,if its not to be a lottery Im hoping John Reade has some thoughts on this and has a plan to ensure this wont happen that it might all turn into a "banana skin" for our game .That could have later repercussions and show our game in bad light and rather than enhance draughts and maybe with this great opportunity we have to show that we have the structure and organisational skills to get the job done professionally.

With 42 players i assume there will have to be "sections" that will be structured in such a way as to be balanced with a certain amount of "weak" and "strong" players included. Of course that begs the question as to who has the know how and knowledge as to how these people might be graded.In the Western world as you know we have the "Ratings System" which allows us the knowledge as to anyone within that particular group, so what of the many other players outside it are any contingence plans in place to allow for these individual players.

Will the contestants have the "Official rules of Ty. play" in advance so everyone knows exactly before they leave or will it be left to the last minute as often happens .?

Are there enough officials/translaters/referees

Im sure these things have been well thought-out and accounted for but from past experiences i have my doubts, and far be it from me to say "i told you so" .I hope that they are for the good of checkers and to show the international community that we can put on a professional show ,with hitches kept to the minimum.!!

"THOSE WHO CANNOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CERTAIN TO REPEAT IT"............SANTAYANA



Tommy Canning

[Alex_Moiseyev]

...

[Alex_Moiseyev]

It would be also interesting to hear - who is in charge of bringing to Beijing accesories , equipment etc - pieces, boards, scoresheets, computers, players and country tags and flags, pens, notebooks... or maybe WCDF authroirities of Anglo_American want to loan them from other form of games - 10x10, 64 Brazilian ? I know for sure that cordinators of 64- and 100- section in Beijing are already working on this for several weeks.

If someoone thinks that Chineese oranizers are in charge of everything - I can assure that this is a big mistake !

Concerning Tommy message about first couple rounds - I, personally, would like to see pairing of players from the same country

Regards,

Alex

[Ingo_Zachos]

Tommy, as always u r very square and, as most of the times, you were thinking further ahead then most of us.

1. Indeed many players r without rating. But as the Olympic spirit at least in this first WMSG prevails, we cannot exclude those.
To play in section would require that you know how strong they are, but there is the catch!
We don't know in many cases. So play in sections can not be used.
2.I guess that a swiss system of say 7-9 rounds would be approriate, but also a prelimainary swiss sytem and then a KO-round of the best 8 players would be thinkable.
If swiss system is applied, then the players from each countries should be paired against each others in the first 3-4 rounds (dependng if we play 7 or 9 rounds), so that they can't boast each others chances to win a medal, and they should, if possible, not ply against each other in the last two rounds.
3.In draughts 100 they will play a swiss system and then the best 8 will play in a kind of play-off for the medals.
Something similar could be applied for the Checkers event in Beijing.
That would ensure that the first round pairings have little influence on the final table, but among the best a lot of rest games might render the KO-system quite boring for the spectators.

Conclusion:
My preference is Swiss System with a preference of pairing players from the same country in the first 3-rounds (provided they r equal on points), and a prefence to avoid pairing them in the decisive rounds(but I see that you can't avoid a last round pairing of two players that r on places one and two and from the same country in the last round, and did not played aginst each other yet).

One thing you should notice, Tommy:
The field looks mighty strong, even if a few r not among the Top 100 in the World, but as I see there r 46 players, 24 of them r on the current World Ranking, only two of them not among the Top 100, and one of them is Jack van Niewkerk, who seems to be much underrated, so in fact only one is weaker then the Top 100.
Some of the other 22 players, in fact many( I would guess at least 12-14), can be expected to be at least strong enough to play at the highest sections of an US National or an Irish Open.
If we then see that the favorites r all from the countries with more then one strong player (USA, Barbados, UK, Ireland, Turkmenistan) tha rule to pair the strong players from each country aginst each other in the first rounds should guarantee that the medal contenders will get no tail-ender by chance, and thus get fair chances.

The rules r not a great problem.
I think that now, after the size and level of the event is known, appropriate rules (time limit, tounament style, scoring method) should be not a question.
And knowing the persons responsible in the WCDF I would guess that the players will of course, know those rules in advance.

A bigger issue is the questions of translatwrs, and here I agree that it could cause problems, but with a few draughts 100 players around that speak English and Russian I would guess that it can be handled.
Rememeber, Tommy, at Prague we had a similar lanuage problem, but in the end we could somehow get over it.
It is the World Mind Sport Games, and "the more different tunes, the better".

Greetinx from sunny dortmund, Germany

Ingo Zachos

[tommyc]

we cannot exclude those.............(i nvr mentioned exclusion,i believe in inclusion always.!!)


We don't know in many cases...(ive already said that ...please dotn repeat me.!!)

If swiss system is applied, then the players from each countries should be paired against each others in the first rds and NOT in the final rds.....................(good idea and Alex likes this too.)

Some of the other 22 players, in fact many( I would guess at least 12-14), can be expected to be at least strong enough to play at the highest sections of an US National or an Irish Open.,.........(this is not the Irish Open and its a long way from no.100 to the top 10)

persons responsible in the WCDF I would guess that the players will of course, know those rules in advance........(hopefully not a few hrs or minutes ??)

Rememeber, Tommy, at Prague we had a similar lanuage problem, but in the end we could somehow get over it.....

(yes Ingo this is what im getting at and i hope its not gonna be another as you say ("the end we could somehow get over it""...........lets do a professional job on this one)

[tommyc]

Billy Dochertys post in General Discussions makes me think my worst fears may be realised in Beijing;;;;;; Heres what he said;;;;;;;;

First and fore most Henri needs detailed rules of our game.Some ''playing "rules have been sent to him ie. Black moves first; men can't jump backwords etc.etc.
This is all very interesting for him , but basically what he wants are the official laws of the game , for example how much time is allocated on clocks ( he even asked me if we would be using clocks!!) .............

Im hoping for the best but its not looking good;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[Patrick Parker]

go old school like they did years ago....after a round or so if you cant keep up then you get knocked down into another division