Hey Everyone,
I wanted to make sure that all of you know that you can get a full refund if you do not want to play in the Bridgeport Open after we lowered the cash prizes. All you have to do is email me and I'll get you the full refund.
To explain what happened, there was a miscommunication between MVL's agent and DIG about how many simul spots we could have per section. We thought we could do 50 players per section. We checked in again with MVL's agent because we started talking about how that's a lot of players for a simul and it turns out that the better number is 20 players per section. This will make it a better experience for everyone.
50 to 20 is a 40% decrease. Therefore, we decided to decrease the prize fund by 40% to $10,000 because we dont know if people will sign up beyond the simul spots. The new prize money is $10,000 based on a minimum of 100 entrants in the top four sections. We are guaranteeing $5,000 regardless of how many players show up.
If I were in your shoes, I would get suspicious that we are trying to bait and switch you with the decreased prize fund. I'm big on ethics so I will be transparent on everything.
We are going to use 100% of the profit from the tournament to host more free chess classes in Bridgeport. There is a high chance that we will lose money on this event. I will explain the finances later in this email. This is our first large cash prize chess tournament and from what I've heard, most tournaments like this lose money. We are doing this for two reasons:
1. We want Bridgeport to be a chess city like St Louis.
2. We are fans of MVL.
Regarding the finances, our costs to bring MVL here, cash prizes, tournament directors facility operating costs and other stuff like that will be around:
1. With a $10k prize fund if we get a minimum of 100 players in the top four sections: $28,000
2. With $5k prize fund minimum: $23,000
Now, let's take a look at our revenue. If we fill all of our simul spots we will make $20,000. That means that we will need to get more players in addition to the simul spots just to break even. We have zero money from sponsors. The city of Bridgeport is providing the school, security and janitors for free.
I hope that this cleared up any concerns for anyone out there. If you know me, you know I care about integrity. I can understand any confusion before this email. Please contact me with any questions.
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12:51 PM (0 minutes ago)
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Sorry for the disappointment. Your event had the potential of being one of the best chess events ever held in Connecticut.
I will post your update verbatim at ConnecticutChess.blogspot.com
Rob Roy
