New York Masters Chess Tournament

[curtains]

Hi, I’m posting this to see if anyone in the poker community would be willing to help me out. I am the organizer of a chess tournament called the New York Masters. The website for it is www.newyorkmasters.com , so please go there for more information. We run the tournament solely on donations, and we are entirely not for profit.
If there are any chess fans out there or people who want to help with a good thing, I would greatly appreciate any donations to help this tournament thrive. It is the strongest weekly chess tournament in the world and likely of all time.
It’s amazing how a chess tournament with this many strong players in it, can generate only a portion of what any $20 NL tournament online can muster. I’m trying my best to bring at least some portion of financial respectability to chess. If anyone wants to help in any way whatsoever (donations from $10 on up are greatly appreciated), please let me know. This is the only time I will make this post, thank you for listening.

Greg Shahade

[CountDuckula]

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It’s amazing how a chess tournament with this many strong players in it, can generate only a portion of what any $20 NL tournament online can muster.

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While I'd say it's a good cause, and I may even make a donation, aren't you comparing apples and oranges here? The reason $20 NL online tourneys can raise more money is that they draw hundreds or even thousands of entrants. They aren't raising money from anyone besides those actually playing.

-Mike

[curtains]

Yes I was comparing apples and oranges. Chess is not a great gambling game, and thus its impossible to approach the prize funds generated by poker.
It's just difficult for some chessplayers to sit by and watch. The United States' greatest chessplaying talent in many years, played in a tournament and had a very good result, tying for second place in the biggest Open tournament in the US.
After the tournament he told me how upset he was that he only made a little over a thousand dollars and then started asking me questions about poker, and whether he should learn.
It's sad to me, because I started out as a chessplayer and the game will forever hold a place in my heart, thus I'm doing all I can to help the game succeed. But here I was talking to perhaps the greatest American talent since Bobby Fischer, and I feel like I'm a liar if I tell him he should stick to chess! (I basically avoided giving him advice)
The prize funds for chess tournaments should never be AS high as the prize funds for poker tournaments. It would be ridiculous as the better players would nearly always win. However I believe that the prizes need to be higher than they are now. High enough so that the top 10-20 players in the US, can expect to make at least 50k-100k a year in prize money. What I'm trying to do with this tournament, is give some professional players a chance to make some regular income each week, give the talented young players a chance to play against the best and to give people all around the world the chance to watch some great chess.
Poker, and Texas Holdem especially, is brilliant in that I think its the absolute best combination of luck and skill in a game. I really can't imagine it being any better, as the good players can win to make a living, yet the bad players can get lucky at any time.
Anyway thanks for your interest and responding. I was worried I'd immediately get 4 responses telling me that I was an evil spammer.

[MicroBob]

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But here I was talking to perhaps the greatest American talent since Bobby Fischer,

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wonders who this is (not expecting you to say...just my natural curiousity).
i havent been keeping up with chess nearly as much the past couple of years so there's even a chance i haven't heard of him.


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However I believe that the prizes need to be higher than they are now. High enough so that the top 10-20 players in the US, can expect to make at least 50k-100k a year in prize money.

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i agree. the fact that many of the country's very top chess-players can't make a semi-decent income is sad.

i just came back from a new orleans vacation and walked past jude acers' table a couple times. didn't have time for a game.....he's not one of the top 10 in the country obviously, but i always wondered how much he makes sitting in the french-quarter all day offering to play games (and give mini-lessons) at $5 a pop.

very nice guy and an enjoyable game when i sat at his table for a game a few months ago.


obviously, some of the US GM's can do better if they can expand their chess outside of just playing comptetively (lessons, simuls, books, etc) ...but that just takes their income from awful to not-as-awful in most cases.
plus, it possibly holds you back from being the best possible player you could become. does Gregory Kaidanov fit this profile??


i think what you are trying to do is very noble and if more chess-players thought creatively like this chess would certainly have an opportunity to thrive more in the U.S. than it currently does (in NY and out)


i have always been interested in coaching a chess-team H.S. level or younger (i'm only 1400 USCF) just because i think it's a good game for youths to learn and i think i could be a decent teacher and would enjoy it.
now that i have a bit more spare time thanks to my poker career i may look into this idea more seriously.


anyway, good luck with your efforts.
i believe your name is curtains at stars so i will transfer a small but heart-felt donation.


btw - for any newbies around here who don't know curtains and may think it is some sort of elaborate begging-scheme....i can assure you this is on the up and up.
greg and his sister are both familiar names to anyone who has read Chess Life magazine regularly the past 10 years or so.

[curtains]

Thanks so much for your response and donation! I'd rather not say who the young player is, sorry about that, although if you do some research it should be easy to discern.
I've never met Jude Acres nor do I know much about him, yet he has sent me 2 handwritten postcards praising the New York Masters, so I like him for that [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Gregory Kaidanov is a reasonable example, although he does quite well for himself. However I'm sure that he would be a stronger chessplayer if he didn't teach at all.
You can actually make quite a good living teaching chess. I'm sure I could make 100k a year doing so in NYC, but it's just not very satisfying work, as to make the big bucks you usually have to work with kids who might not be that interested in chess and I'd rather shoot myself in the head than do that all the time. I do work a few hours a week at once school, but they are all extremely talented kids, and just won the National Junior High Championship this past year.
You should definitely look into coaching a school if it interests you. Chess can do really amazing things to kids. I've had quite a few students who had very little self confidence, but once they learned chess and became good players, they became more confident almost overnight. I've seen it provide amazing oppurtunities to kids who would have never had these chances otherwise.
Thanks again!

[threeonefour]

hey are you going to host a chess championship of online poker or anything like you did on pokerstars last year?

if so I would be interested in playing.

I don't how the last tournament went, I wanted to play but didn't have the bankroll. it was a 200+15 tournament right? is that what it will be next time?

[MicroBob]

certainly more realistic then going around to different schools and teaching them how to play poker!!


100k/yr teaching chess to a bunch of little monsters!!?!?
i can think of worse gigs.
but i can imagine how frustrating it can be to have all this knowledge to share and you're working with someone who has absolutely NO interest.
but you obviously take great pride in your success stories as well you should.

[curtains]

Hi 314.....last year it was $100...I havent thought about having a big championship event again, but if we did it would be at least $200 I think, but perhaps just $100. We will see.

[CountDuckula]

Greg, just to give you a heads-up, I sent you a PM.

-Mike