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Response to Fort Lauderdale and the "criticism"

Posted By: Chiva Tafazzoli
Date: Monday, 17 January 2011, at 4:53 a.m.

In Response To: First results from Ft. Lauderdale... (Justin N.)

Thanks Justin for the reports and also for the match recording.

I am surprised to read so many comments from so many people who werenīt even at the event and it looks to me like everyone knows everything better and has the solution to every problem which isnīt even a problem to me.

Attendance is what it is and I take it as such without complaints. I am happy witht he numbers that I have. My intention is NOT to make a huge profit from backgammon tournaments. This would not be possible any way considering the costs and the work it takes. Breaking even + something on top is fine.

There are many types of tournaments as they are many types of players. They range from low stakes and empty pockets to high stakes and everything in between. Itīs all a matter os positionning yourself in a certain niche.

Those who think that boards should not be supplied, fine. Go to tournaments where you "schlepp" your own equipment. I do supply boards and there is a price to pay for it. Let me remind you that there are enough players who come to a "clock obligation tournament" without clocks and are not willing to buy a clock. Go deal with those....

Those who think that entry fees should be lower: Go to tournaments with lower entry fees. I tried that in Maryland in October. Did it work any better? NO! Amazingly, and in spite of the so-called high entry fee (high compared to what? Certainly not to Europe), half of the players decided to enter the side pot, just to make it even more expensive...

Those who think that the tournament should be shorter by 1 day in order to cut expenses: Itīs not possible to fulfill in requirements in terms of room night guarantees to get the playing room for free and itīs financially not possible to run a tournament if you have to pay for the playing room on top of everything else. On top of that, I believe in backgammon tournaments as a kind of social event. There must be enough time to take a dinner break, there must enough time not to play late night or early morning (how do you like that, Paul?) and there must be enough time to enter side-events if you wish to, or simply enjoy a few drinks with your local friends of other backgammon buddies and maybe discover the area and do some sightseeing, sport, beach or whatever youīre into. If youīre into hardcore non-stop playing, fine, you have an additional day during the tournament to do so, or you can simply go on the internet and play 24/7 (but thatīs not the purpose of a tournament IMO).

Iīve also had some rumours and comments which were brought to my attention that are more political than anything else. Some people actually do think that I am an intrudor and I have no business coming and running tournaments in the USA. Believe it or not: I do have every business to do so as I do something for the game, I bring my experience (and my equipment) from abroad and fresh ideas such as stop-pots and different formats (like we had in the Beginners division in Florida and the Fightersī Bracket in Intermediate and Championship). I also do support the USBGF with my tournaments. I strongly believe that it is more than embarassing that a European TD has to fly over from the other side of the Atlantic to put up a tournament in San Francisco, which is a key city of backgammon in the USA, with a big number of players of all kind, 3 chouette nights per week and a monthly local tournament, just because nobody is willing to do the work, invest time and money, with very little return.

Bottom line for me: I do read and listen carefully but I have my type of tournaments and Iīll gladly live with the numbers I get. I attract some and many of the biggest names of the game to my events and I get extremely positive feedback from almost everyone. Thatīs fine enough for me. You donīt like it? Just stay away, pick the events that you like better, show some respect by not bitching too much at other peopleīs efforts if you donīt attend, or even better: be a part of the solution if you think that there is a problem (like I said before: I donīt see any).

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