10-12-2012, 08:05 PM
Calum MacQueen Wrote:Yeah, to an extent. Jonathon Hawkins made his GM title (if he's not there it's a matter of time) entirely within the UK. Okay, it is easier in England as many of the tournaments like e2e4, Classic ect. are down there. Maybe funding to these tournaments is an idea? Even a few quid to help with travel goes a long way considering most of our candidates for titles are students.
Having at least one FIDE rated tourney in Scotland would be nice, the Scottish was a good start but not ideal for norms: the huge volume of players means you've got to start off playing really well or you'll end up playing lower rated players. A closed tournament like the one held in Alva St. a few years ago would be perfect but obviously not so easy for funding as you need foreign IM/GMs. Does Jacob count as a foreign GM for these purposes (this is if he still plays)?
The thing with Hawkins is he is more an exception rather than the rule. 4ncl is horrendously expensive (works out over £100 a game to play in), the British is more expensive to play in than the Czech Open, and the e2e4 events don't allow norms usually due to number of games. You can get a title in the UK alone yes, but it makes much more sense to travel, and takes much less time rather than having to wait for the few events to come round.
Calum is also dead right about the Scottish: great event, but not ideal for norms. That is not meant in an elitist way in teh sense of having to play lower rated players, it just so happens that in order to hit the big TPRs required you need to realistically only have 2 or 3 opponents under 2100.
As a further point, look what happens when Scots do go on their travels. Calum very nearly got an IM norm last year, Clement has picked up a win against the reigning Corus C group winner, and Alan has IM and GM norms. The potential is there!