23-01-2013, 03:12 PM
Hugh Brechin Wrote:It'd probably make it a mite harder to attract the grandmasters, mind.
Yup. This would essentially be the problem with no prize fund. It's interesting to compare the event last year with the British blitz in 2012. The British blitz had 90 entries with 5 titled players and a prize fund of £500. The Scottish blitz had 80 entries with 13 titled players (15 if 2 hadn't withdrawn the day before) and a prize fund of £1,800. Is this down to the number of active players in England in comparison to Scotland..? Possibly. The other key factor will of course be the entry fee... which I would like to have around the level Andrew mentioned.
Andrew McHarg Wrote:Glad to see this will be going ahead again. For me it was one of the most enjoyable tournaments of last year and I hope to be able to play again this year.
Great to hear that you enjoyed yourself Andrew! Just to clarify, I won't explore the possibility of running the blitz in the event that funding isn't achieved (which seems really likely). This is down to a few things... but generally without a prize fund, top players won't play as a lot of them are professionals after all and it suddenly becomes very hard to get entries - certainly too much stress to even cover the venue cost.