RESULTS OF MARCH 9 SURVEY
by Bill Goichberg

This is a partial report.  The detailed questions regarding round times require more study, though so far the clear leader is 40/2, SD/1 with Saturday games at 11 and 6 and Sunday at 10 and 4:30. 

Scores presented are an average of excellent=3, good=2, fair=1, poor=0.  Following some scores is the raw vote with E=excellent, G=good, F=fair, P=poor.

 SUNDAY ROUND TIMES

In past surveys, it has been very close between beginning the first Sunday game at 9 am or 10 am, with commuters tending to favor 10 am and those staying at the hotel 9 am, except that those who fly tend to like 10 am saying they must stay another night even with the earlier start.  Those with several hours drive to get home have especially objected to 10 am instead of 9, because the final round becomes an hour later.  However, it has been a long time since we asked this question.

The results this time are quite surprising and are likely to impact our scheduling.  10 am is leading by a large margin.  For example, combined with the most popular Friday/Saturday schedule and time control (Friday 7 pm, Saturday 11 am and 6 pm, 40/2, SD/1), results are as follows:

A) Sunday 10 am & 4:30 pm: 1.8 (E 134, G 141, F 91, P 73)
B) Sunday 9:30 am & 4 pm: 1.6 (E 70, G 179, F 113, P 77)
C) Sunday 9 am & 3:30 pm: 1.5 (E 95, G 129, F 110, P 105)

Even more impressive is this breakdown of the leading travel/hotel combinations:

Commute by car, under 100 miles: A 1.7, B 1.5, C 1.4
Stay at hotel, travel by car, under 100 miles: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.6
Travel by car, 100-300 miles: A 1.8, B 1.7, C 1.7
Travel by car, over 300 miles: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.5
Travel by plane, over 300 miles: A 2.0, B 1.8, C 1.6

A leads in all categories (and also in small sample bus and train travel categories), and the poor showing for C in the long distance driving categories, long the main supporters of early Sunday rounds, is surprising.

An age breakdown shows that the earlier Sunday rounds are popular only with older players.

Age 19/under: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.3.  89 responses.
Age 20-34: A 2.0, B 1.3, C 1.1. 63 responses.
Age 35-49: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.6. 112 responses.
Age 50-64: A 1.7, B 1.7, C 1.7. 145 responses.
Age 65/over: A 1.4, B 1.6, C 1.6. 34 responses.

And no rating classes prefer 9 am, though it's close among the lowest rated.

Master: A 2.1, B 1.5, C 1.1. 44 responses.
Expert: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.5. 48 responses.
Class A: A 1.8, B 1.4, C 1.4. 99 responses.
Class B: A 1.8, B 1.7, C 1.6. 86 responses.
Class C: A 1.7, B 1.7, C 1.6. 82 responses.
Class D: A 1.5, B 1.4, C 1.4. 39 responses
Class E/below or unrated: A 1.6, B 1.5, C 1.6. 45 responses.

TIME BETWEEN ROUNDS

Most schedules for 40/2, SD/1 presented here have, for the rare games that last a full 6 hours, one hour between rounds on Saturday, and a half hour between on Sunday when many players are anxious to leave.  Compared to these, two 40/2 schedules with an extra half hour between rounds (90 minutes Saturday, an hour Sunday) did poorly.  Two 40/2 schedules with a half hour less between rounds on Saturday and Sunday unchanged did slightly better, but still not good.  Overall, participants appear to support an hour between Saturday rounds and a half hour between Sunday rounds.

TIME CONTROLS, NUMBER OF ROUNDS, AND FRIDAY SCHEDULE

       This is question 5 of the survey. 
        Following each score is the raw vote with E=excellent, G=good, F=fair, P=poor.

        A) 5 rounds, 40/2, SD/1, Friday round starting 7 pm: 1.8 (E 132, G 136, F 75, P 78)
        B) 5 rounds, 40/2, SD/1, Friday round starting 6 pm: 1.7 (E 108, G 135, F 99, P 79)
        C) 5 rounds, Game/2, Friday round starting 8 pm: 1.1 (E 43, G 101, F 129, P 148)
        D) 5 rounds, Game/2, Friday round starting 7 pm: 1.4 (E 66, G 125, F 137, P 93)
        E) 5 rounds, Game/2, Friday round starting 6 pm: 1.3 (E 48, G 126, F 133, P114)
        F) 4 rounds, 40/2, SD/1, no Friday round: 1.6 (E 110, G 130, F 97, P 84)
        G) 4 rounds, Game/2, no Friday round: 1.5 (E 81, G 130, F 111, P 99)
        H) 5 rounds, Game/2, no Friday round: 1.5 (E 100, G 115, F 106, P 100)

As on all our past surveys, the time control of 40/2, SD/1 is preferred to faster controls.  Support for Game/2 is especially poor if there is a Friday night round.  If Game/2 is to be used, younger players prefer a 5 round event over two days, older players a 4 rounder, but everyone except age 19/below strongly favors 5 rounds, 3 days, 40/2, SD/1.

The starting time for a Friday game of 7 pm, used at most of our tournaments, is strongly supported.  Interesting is that even if the time control is speeded up to G/2, there is little interest in a later start.  Apparently most players have no trouble arriving by 7 pm, but a significant number have problems making it an hour earlier.

A breakdown of these averages by age is interesting:

Age 19/below: A 1.4, B 1,3, C 0.9, D 1.2, E 1.3, F 1.8, G 1.7, H 1.9

Young players prefer 40/2, SD/1 to Game/2 when the number of rounds per day is the same, but their favorite schedule of the ones presented is no play Friday, 3 games Saturday and 2 games Sunday, Game/2.  We consider three rounds in a day impossible with 40/2, SD/1 so did not ask about this option.  Option F, a 4 round event at 40/2 with two games daily Saturday and Sunday, also obtained pretty good support.

Age 20-34: A 2.1, B 1.8, C 1.2, D 1.4, E 1.2, F 1.5, G 1.2, H 1.5
Age 35-49: A 1.8, B 1.6, C 1.3, D 1.6, E 1.2, F 1.5, G 1.4, H 1.4

Both of these age ranges strongly favor A (5 rounds, 40/2, SD/1, Friday round 7 pm).  The support for 3 rounds Saturday evident in the 19/younger group disappears at ages 20-34 and is even less popular at ages 35-49.  There is not much support for 4 round events in these age groups.

Age 50-64: A 1.8, B 1.8, C 1.1, D 1.4, E 1.3, F 1.6, G 1.5, H 1.3
Age 65/over: A 1.7, B 1.8, C 0.8, D 1.2, E 1.3, F 1.6, G 1.5, H 1.3

With older players option A remains popular, but starting the Friday round an hour earlier has strong support, and is the first choice of those 65 or over.  This makes sense as those who are retired don't have the problem of leaving work late afternoon, so can more easily arrive by 6 pm.  Also, option F, 4 rounds at 40/2, SD/1, gets a fair amount of support here, while H with 3 games in a day does very poorly. 

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