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BGonline.org Forums
The REAL difference between Intermediate and Open
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: The REAL difference between Intermediate and Open (Phil Simborg)
Date: Monday, 10 September 2012, at 5:16 p.m.
Tom doesn't think it matters if a low open player competes in the Intermediate, but what if 5 low open players are playing in intermediate?
I think it's more accurate to say -- not that Tom "doesn't think it matters" -- but that Tom believes there is a range of players who might usually play in the Open flight -- and usually because they put themselves there -- but whose skills and results should not make them ineligible to play in the Intermediate flight.
Phil, I acknowledge that you're advocating for a uniform standard, and not (at the moment) for a particular standard, but your example points up the problem (as Tom has observed) of talking about a standard without knowing enough about what current TDs' standards are or what a uniform standard would be.
For instance, your question: what if 5 "low open" players are playing in intermediate? seems to suggest that you think that would be bad. That's not obvious to me. Suppose there's a tournament that attracts 64 open and 32 intermediate players (self-selected), and that there was some objective standard for ranking them. Now suppose that players 60, 61, 62, 63 and 64 decide they'd rather play intermediate. I think it's quite likely that would be perfectly all right since, I think, it's quite unlikely that those 5 players are objectively better than all the intermediate players.
Probably, we'll all continue talking in generalities unless we start talking about which "low open" players ought not play Intermediate -- the bottom 5%? 10%? 20%? 50%? 85%?
If you're laughing at 85%, here are a couple examples from Danish tournaments this past June:
Casino Copenhagen Backgammon Championship, 3 flights Championship about $200 open Advanced about $100 max rating 1150 (excludes top 15% of the rating list) Intermediate about $40 max rating 1050 (excludes top 47% of the rating list)
Open Fyn Championship, 3 flights Championship about $240 open Intermediate about $80 open Beginner about $12 max rating 1020 (excludes top 58% of the rating list) I'm definitely not suggesting that either of these standards would be appropriate for ABT tournaments and the US player base -- if anything, it suggests that a uniform nationwide or international standard would be problematic, at best. Tournaments are different, within and between nations.
If you were a tournament director and have seen the reaction of the intermediates any time a "questionable" player was allowed into the intermediates ... If you were a tournament director and saw the reaction of someone who wanted to play intermediate and was forced to play Open
I'd like to see examples. You wouldn't have to name them (although I can think of a few names myself) if you could identify a Player X by whatever criteria you think make him "questionable" -- i.e., rating, recent or past results, customary placement, etc.
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