trw wrote on 06/11/09 at 18:17:38:


Probably it's just me being used to Norwegian (European?) standards then. I think all international swisses in Norway (not that there are a lot of them) offer GMs special conditions. Then again, no tournament in Norway has a prize fund like this tournament.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 06/11/09 at 21:15:18:


That seems pretty ridiculous, and very conducive to cheating I suppose? I would certainly be tempted to get my rating down!!

trw wrote on 06/11/09 at 18:17:38:



The Las Vegas tournament may indeed be a US Swiss tournament, but the titled players are pretty much in their own section because the fees for playing that section are so high, and the prize funds in the lower sections are amazing! ^* 

So, apart from the prize money and the venue (and yes, I've talked to enough IMs and GMs to know that the gambling is one of the main reasons for going to Las Vegas), the GMs also get a fairly high quality of tournament with FIDE norms at stake.  (Although there are almost never GM norms.)

Some strong players are paid to be used in advertisements and some are paid for simuls and other sideshow events such as analysis. IM John Donaldson has been a fairly regular fixture at the National Open as an analyst and not a player.

So, while this certainly is no Moscow Open, it does have its attractions for certain players.

^*Many masters complain that the prizes in the lower sections are too good.  The National Open in Las Vegas has been known to give $5000 to players who win an under 1200 section.  In other words, if you are not even good enough to be an average club player, you can win $5000 by winning 6 games against others who are that bad.

Meanwhile, the people who devote their lives to the game may get $31 in prize funds at such a tournament.

Girkassa wrote on 06/11/09 at 08:07:57:



This is the only american swiss for sure where GMs are treated like this. I was under the impression GMs never got any special treatment at swisses at all but I could be wrong I guess. Certainly at invitationals like IM/GM norm events there is appearance fees and Invitational championships like US Championship has hotel covered and no entry fee. But US Swiss a GM is a player like any other player.

trw wrote on 06/10/09 at 02:16:21:


Isn't that normal? I thought GMs normally had no entry fee, no hotel fee (even if they don't want to share a room), plus appearance money that at least cover their travel expences, and usually more than that? Or am I just too used to smaller tournaments with smaller prizes, so that the organizers have to make more concessions to make GMs willing to play?

I think Loek really went there to play poker!  Otherwise the tournament is too strong for the prizes, although that does happen quite a lot these days I'm afraid to say.

Top chess players get appearance money as well as competing for prizes