For those that don't know: I started making morning ts long, long ago. There were no morning ts at the time. It took three weeks to make it a solid spot. There were five 121s, a halt-hour apart.

I noticed those who were knocked out in the first round had to wait 25 or so minutes until the next tournament, so I decided to put 61-game tourneys in at the quarter hour in case they wanted to play quick games in the meantime.

It swiftly took on a life of its own as many players wanted to go into both tournaments.

I did try Swiss ts and DEs for variety, but it became clear that the morning people preferred this nine-tournament blitz.

And that is why the slower-playing players were causing disruptions. Often people couldn't get into the next t or it started late and this rippled into all the following tournaments.

At that time, there were people who played deliberately slow --- doing other activities while they played. It was easy to tell them; hey, if you are going to play, then play. If you want to other stuff, then go and do it but don't hold us up.

These days, however, we face a new dilemma. We have people who play earnestly and thoroughly enjoy the game and their time with us. But they naturally are just slower. It's not intentional, it is just the way they are. Yet, it disturbs the flow of games.

It is the hardest thing I have had to deal with in all my years. On the one side, you want people to play and enjoy the time without concern. On the other, you want to keep the tournaments moving so people don't get frustrated waiting.

The question is: Do we let the 121s take as long as they need with no care for time and just have the 61s as fill-ins where needed, or do we keep the long favourite many quick tournaments, one on top of the other?

How we keep going with so few is a wonder. But somehow we do. We just lost four players: two who weren't happy with their wins and two because of the high speed leaving them uncomfortable. That leaves the ice very thin but still we go on.

Ideally, we would have two more capable tds willing to work at the 2pm area and another for the evenings. I am convinced both spots have the potential to succeed, but they will need patience and persistence.

End of report!