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BGonline.org Forums
Chicago Open
Posted By: Mike Clapsadle
Date: Thursday, 1 June 2017, at 4:08 p.m.
I attended the Chicago Open and just wanted to post a few observations, not an extensive report of the tournament.
SWISS FORMAT: This has been discussed on the forums before. There is debate about whether this format favors better players or not, but I love it mostly for the scheduling benefits. You know exactly when your next match is going to start. And, unless you had a really short or long match, you next one is going to start roughly 20 to 30 minutes later. Enough time to get a snack and hit the restroom. No waiting for two matches to finish, and constantly walking over to check on the scores, not knowing if you have time to leave the playing room or not. I talked to many others about this format this weekend, and didn't hear form anyone that disliked it. If anyone wouldn't favor it, I'd imagine that it would be the tournament director since it seems to be added work for them between each round. So thank you Rory, Jeb, and the rest of the staff for your hard work.
ACCOMMODATIONS: I love the rooms at the hotel, with the split rooms. Adds extra privacy especially if your sharing a room someone. The $60 you pay for the food all weekend is well worth it. I know their not gourmet meals, but the convenience factor alone is worth it. It's so nice to be able to walk over there and just grab a quick bite or drink and then head back to the playing room.
PROFICIENCY TEST: I took the proficiency test again this year. I like it because it's challenging, but they're not questions designed to trick you or have a "quiz factor"...they're all positions that are something you would normally find over the board and pretty straight forward.
One thing I wanted to note...during the lecture portion of the test on Monday, one of the novice players had a very good question, and it was explained to her. The lecture then moved on, as to not hold everything up. Dennis Culpepper then went over to the novice player and explained in greater detail why the correct play was right, and the theory behind it, and the problems with her choice of play. I already knew that Dennis is one of the nicest players in the bg community, but I wanted to point this out to show his generosity and patience with helping a fellow backgammon player when many others wouldn't have.
For the most part it was a great tournament. Only real negatives that I noticed were people still not paying attention to the match start times even though it couldn't be any easier with the Swiss format. And, people constantly crowding the tournament staff and bothering them while they were trying to get the next draws out...just give them some space and let them do their thing...and everything will run more smoothly. We used the new rule about dice rolls counting if they're flat on checkers. This is the first time I played with this rule, and it worked well, but I just don't know if the rule was really needed in the first place.
Thank you Rory, enjoyed the experience and will be back next year.
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