Hi:

The Niagara Falls Open has been on the CFC website for about a year. It's a small tournament on the outskirts of SWOCL. We draw anywhere from 30-50 players for the last 15 or so years. I thought the idea was not to conflict with other tournaments in the SWOCL area, so as to maximize attendance at our tournaments.

Monday, a new tournament in Kitchener was posted. We draw a minimal amount of players from the Kitchener/Waterloo area, but have drawn some in the past. By posting this tournament, it conflicts with Niagara Falls. Tony Li says he doesn't want to conflict with other tournaments, but posts his less than two weeks before and should be able to clearly see that this is another tournament around.

The Niagara Falls Open doesn't advertise on Chesstalk, due to some slamming of me because I didn't post a tournament update after the event. Six years ago, my dad passed away a few hours after the event. Four years ago, and the reason we aren't there anymore, I had knee surgery two days later. I don't have a laptop, so was unable to get on the computer to do my recap after the event. People don't realize there is life besides chess. If it hadn't been for my assistant TD's, John and Walter, the Niagara Falls Open would not be around. They convinced me to keep it going and help those in the Niagara region have a tournament to play without having to travel an hour and a half to two hours to events. This allows them to sleep in their own beds, save on travel, food and time.

When you are in the centre of SWOCL, you have all the above advantages.

What happened to fairness and equity amongst TD's in the area? I always check to make sure that the dates I'm interested in are available in advance. As someone who works weekends and nights, I'm limited in the amount of tournaments I can run and play in.

Just curious what others think of this.

Thank you.

John Erickson
TD
Niagara Falls Open