London International 7th Mar 09, discussion thread

[Robert]

After a review of the available dates, it now seems that to avoid holidays, birthdays and other tournaments, the best date for the London International will be the weekend 7/8 March.

This will be the third of such tournaments, and is generally the largest tournament of the year outside the World Cup itself. The previous two have had 20+ players and have included guests of honour such as Gianni, Nikos, Jacob, Vagelis, Sandro, Fabio, Alessandro, Mark and Riemer Poelstra, and the KOA founders Jan/Niels/Gunther. It's also a great opportunity to bring these international challengers against some of the quality UK players that don't travel abroad: Jon and Ben Greenaway, Lee 'Trader' Moyes, even Rikki Fullarton himself.

Details of previous tournaments here:
http://ko-gathering.com/koasi/tournaments.php?tournament=London%20Marathon&country=(all)
http://ko-gathering.com/koasi/tournaments.php?tournament=London%20XXII&country=(all)

Previous tournaments have been held in the Holiday Inn Express hotel at Hemel Hempsted. However I have checked and - unbelievably, some organization has booked this room for the entire months of February and March. I have researched venues and would like to propose a new one, which could be even better: The Holiday Inn Express at Luton Airport.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/925/en/hd/ltnap?crUrl=/h/d/ex/925/en/mapsearchresults&rpb=hotel&_requestid=484406

This hotel has a meeting room that is 6.5m x 9m (which sounds adequate for 6 Amiga set ups). I will of course check this room within the next few days before approving it for KOA use. The room is available on 7th March at the very reasonable price of £195 for the day. They also do twin rooms at an Advance Booking Rate of £48.95. Since 1 pound is very nearly 1 euro, this means that - if you fly to Luton - you have no taxi fee and 25Euro per night each to sleep there. International Kick Off does not come cheaper than this. I know that it's not very exciting just visiting an airport, but there is a station where you can get a train into King's Cross (30 mins) if you want to do tourism. Very importantly, you can fly from Athens (Easyjet) to Luton and Milan/Bergamo (Ryanair) to Luton. If you go to another airport, i.e. Stansted or Heathrow, there are buses to Luton Airport, so you don't need to pay for a taxi or go into Central London. For UK players, the hotel and airport are just off the M1 making it easily-accessible in a day-trip from Birmingham, Sheffield, etc. In fact you're saving about 30 minutes off your journey, compared to the previous venue at Hemel Hempsted. I have even negotiated that KOA members coming by car will be able to park for free.

As per 2008 there will be a meal and drinks after the tournament. Luton is a godawful place and we will probably be giving it a wide berth. As soon as we have confirmed the venue, I will start researching somewhere nice to go, perhaps a country pub with good food, and then I think we can possibly organize a minibus to get there and back.

The format is always the same; a large, single league with Play x 1 and everyone playing everyone else, and Gianni wins. The London International in 2006 was one of the first major tournaments of its size to feature Playx1, A=B with Selectable PBD. This year we are proposing two new innovations; firstly (like the UK and Newent Championships) the tournament will have Autoslides and Unintended Slides deactivated. This will give visitors to the UK the opportunity to play with these settings and realize that in fact it's still the same game, just with a completely awful feature removed. The second format change we will implement is that Dagh will win.

What I need to know from you is:

1. Are you interested to participate
2. Is this date of 7th March a problem for you?
3. Are you happy to play the tournament on Saturday or would you prefer Sunday?
4. Is the no-slide setting a problem for you?

The entry cost of the tournament will be £15 only.

Final point, we are trying very hard to get Rodolfo and Alex to this tournament. This is at Claire's request. So, please answer the additional questions.

5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex?
6. Will you attend the tournament?
7. Why not?
8. That's an unacceptable reason. Will you attend the tournament?
9. Great!

[Torchiador]

1. Are you interested to participate? Alessandro, Sandro and Gianni: YES
2. Is this date of 7th March a problem for you? NO
3. Are you happy to play the tournament on Saturday? YES
4. Is the no-slide setting a problem for you? NO but I'm completely against the other rule that you want change.
5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex? NO
6. Will you attend the tournament? N/A
7. Why not? N/A
8. That's an unacceptable reason. Will you attend the tournament? N/A
9. Great!

[Robert]

but I'm completely against the other rule that you want change.

It's Dagh you need to speak to about this, not me....

[dnielsen]

but I'm completely against the other rule that you want change.

It's Dagh you need to speak to about this, not me....

We'll have to wait and see what Wonka says about this.

[alkis21]

1. Are you interested to participate? YES
2. Is this date of 7th March a problem for you? YES - not a total deal breaker but inconvenient, but I can't be 100% confirmed for other dates either so don't change it on my account.
3. Are you happy to play the tournament on Saturday? YES
4. Is the no-slide setting a problem for you? NO
5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex? NO
6. Will you attend the tournament? I'll try my best

[Torchiador]

1. Are you interested to participate? Alessandro, Sandro and Gianni: YES

[hogstrom]

I would be interested, but when i feel it is rather neccessary to cut ko-2 related costs (these did pass 2,000 euro with ease in total this year) I would really need to stay with one of you englishmen to make my attendance possible.

If anyone is willing to let me stay with them please let me know. Tnx in advance.

[Tripod]

5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex?
6. Will you attend the tournament?
7. Why not?
8. That's an unacceptable reason. Will you attend the tournament?
9. Great!

Ok, absolutely, I will try to attend (win) this tournament. I cannot see anything to stop me from attending, there's always a minute risk something will crop up, but once the date is certain I'll book the flights.

[Robert]

Excellent!

Now we just need Roddy, and perhaps some UK players (although that's a small detail).

[Robert]

I would be interested, but when i feel it is rather neccessary to cut ko-2 related costs (these did pass 2,000 euro with ease in total this year) I would really need to stay with one of you englishmen to make my attendance possible.

If anyone is willing to let me stay with them please let me know. Tnx in advance.

John, I understand your KO2 cost situation and will do everything I can to help. First point is that, if you fly into Luton or Heathrow, I can save you some money by collecting you. Second, on the accommodation, the hotel is not that expensive and I am sure we can find you a sharer. If necessary, you know you can stay at my place. So do all the KOA, it's just that I cannot accommodate 10-15 guys. I also feel bad because I have stayed in Sandro's super-bedroom 3 times now but, every time he and Gianni visit me, they stay in a hotel.

As things stand, I already promised Panayotis one of my two bed settees so, assuming he is still coming, you can have the other one. It's a first come, first-served basis. You asked first, and you have to take 4 flights, so it's yours. I'm just going into a little more detail here so that - if anyone else asks - they realize it's not personal if I say that Chateau Swift is full up.

[Abyss]

1. Are you interested to participate? YES
2. Is this date of 7th March a problem for you? NO
3. Are you happy to play the tournament on Saturday? YES
4. Is the no-slide setting a problem for you? N/A
5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex? NO


There's a chance I'll be in USA at March - I don't knot by now. If I don't, I'll really try to attend an international tournament this year, either this or in Milan.

[JamesHBeard]

1. Are you interested to participate? NO
2. Is this date of 7th March a problem for you? NO
3. Are you happy to play the tournament on Saturday? NO
4. Is the no-slide setting a problem for you? NO
5. Is your name Rodolfo or Alex? NO

[Robert]

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VENUE HAS BEEN CHANGED - INITIAL POST UPDATED - PLEASE READ IT ALL AGAIN

I just sent an SMS to about 20 people concerning this, including some long lost people. Let's see what happens. Who knows, this could be a big one.