Tournament Section Thoughts

[Alan Jelfs]

I think there is some justification for Open sections to be somewhat smaller than the other sections because Open players cover the "tail" of the grading bell curve. They would face a larger grading difference between "top" and "bottom" (and therefore more one-sided games) if the Open was the same size as the others.

I don't think prize money generally affects players' decisions to enter tournaments. Personally, last year I entered under-1900 sections because I was chasing the Grand Prix. This year I'm entering Opens because I'm chasing grading points.