His first act was to guarantee the prize fund. In 2010, the first year he became involved, $10,000 was on the table, the largest guaranteed prize fund of any tournament in the state. “Players want a guaranteed prize fund,” he said. “They are tired of looking at TLAs (tournament life announcements) and knowing they won’t get the advertised amount.” He did all of this while paradoxically lowering the entry fee, previously $80, to $59 for in-state players. Previous to Newsom’s involvement, a private organizer needed to charge more to maintain a profit margin. Also notable was this year’s Southern California Open, held the same weekend, which produced a large jump in attendance after guaranteeing its prize fund. In 2011, a $12,500 prize fund was offered, thanks to a
savvy layering of risk. Newsom explained that if the tournament did not break even, which is his only financial goal, then the first $2,000 of losses would be incurred by the state association (which rested in good financial condition in reserve cash). Newsom and High were personally next in line if losses exceeded that. “If the tournament totally failed, we’d be in trouble, but frankly, it is not likely to get down that far. Most people in business have to have some sort of risk tolerance, and we found a comfortable level.” Like Cortez scuttling his ships, there was now lots of motivation to succeed. Unlike Cortez, his army was only two, not 500. The next big decisions were choosing a site and a weekend.
In most of the last decade, North Carolina had its state championship in October in central cities like Greensboro and Burlington. The state is quite long east to west, but the biggest
number of chess players clustered in Charlotte and Raleigh- Durham, each more than one hour away. Newsom and High brought the event to Charlotte, making participation a cinch for local players. They also found a reasonably-priced hotel, lowering travel costs for visiting players. “I’ve got my own ideas for what a chess hotel looks like,”
Newsom said. “Chess players are not high-rollers. You can’t go to the Ritz.” He settled on the Blake Hotel, one of the older properties in downtown Charlotte, and like the former hosts of the World Open, a longtime member of the defunct Adam’s Mark Hotel chain. The property is the oldest convention-style hotel in the city, and its perimeter location makes it more inexpensive than other properties in the business district (the lobby has been refurbished in a modern design, but the ballrooms are still iconic of the 1970s). “They don’t build hotels like we need anymore,” he said, referencing the opulent towers and chic hotels recently built in Charlotte. Newsom arranged a $79 room rate and free parking, all without paying the hotel anything for the meeting space, something he abhors. Instead he opted for a minimum number of room nights, which were fulfilled easily. He cautioned would-be organizers to be vigilant about the particulars of the contract. After signing this year’s agreement, Newsom said the hotel management later realized they might get more per room on the open market after a college football game was scheduled on the Saturday of the tournament. After players complained that the block of rooms were unavailable at the chess rate, Newsom sensed the hotel reneged on its contractual duties, and successfully
uschess.org
Chess Life — January 2012
27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76