Javaness2 wrote:
Robert, as you are familiar with the events KPMC and WAGC, I find it silly that you email somebody to ask what amateur means.
As silly as your failure to sponsor wasted travel expenses and missing income etc. of potential participants possibly denied entrance because of a different interpretation?
"amateur" versus "professional" player are not terms whose meaning is necessarily clear, as I have explained earlier.
Each of the KPMC, WAGC or WMSG event organisations or background organisations works independently from each other and can, in principle, come up with different definitions, even from year to year. You see such happening with rules of play or with changes to lists of prohibited doping substances.
And no - I did NOT ask SOMEBODY, but I asked the relevant people.
Tell me how much, e.g., Guo Juan is a "professional player". Does she play professional games, more specifically does she do so to earn most of her money?
What is being silly in this whole issue is the organisers' failure to express clearly what they mean. If they mean "players without professional rank", then why can't they say so? It would easily make it clear for everybody.
Apparently, ranks are still very much a political issue and simple clarity is not desired. The same can be seen for a rules question for the EGC 2012. To prevent 6d sandbaggers, some rule is necessary. Months have passed and a rule has still not been set. There will be an entire commission during the congress to deal with such ranking problems, but we do not know yet the criterions they will apply. Hidden treatment to compete hidden treatment?