Re: Chicago Open - Packets

• From: ehillema <no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com>
• Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 20:18:16 -0000
• Message-ID: <ai9gm8+69b9_at_...>

--- In quizbowl_at_y..., suby10 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> As for the difficulty - this was a damn hard tournament, probably too 
> hard in some cases.  I have a feeling that the difficulty would have 
> been more appropriate for next March/April when everyone's in 
> practice as opposed to the summer, when everyone is so rusty.

I thought Subash's questions were of a perfectly appropriate level of 
challenge for a high-end open/masters tournament--and not nearly so 
difficult as a number of masters events I've played in the past, where 
I've come away using adjectives like "brutal."  For these the adjective 
that comes to mind is "satisfying"!.  They didn't strike me as out of 
line with past Chicago Opens.  As for the "more appropriate for March/
April" comment, as a masters-only player I certainly see that one 
differently.  March/April may be when current students are most 
practiced, but the big national tournaments then are limited to current 
students, which is always only a subset of the great players.  Summer, 
when the big events are open to *anyone*, even those out of diapers for 
a more considerable length of time, is when the highest levels of 
quizbowl competition are possible, and therefore to my mind the most 
appropriate time for harder sets.

Eric Hillemann 
(whose playing career in quizbowl now consists of one tournament as a 
grad student, one tournament while auditing a class some years later, 
and 37 masters/open tournaments since student days)