So why am I interested now?
Although I have all but given up playing chess competitively, I have not given up other aspects of chess like taking pictures, blogging about chess tournaments, chess broadcasting etc. I am also most interested in building online chess servers like Lichess where players can play on the web.
Big market
The total registered FIDE rated players in the world is abut 170,000. The fact that tournaments take place everyday around the world makes Chess one of the most popular board games in the world. So leveraging services to provide tournament play online is indeed can be profitable if not lucrative if done correctly.What I do know
From what I've heard and Googled about Tornelo, it's a platform for online tournaments. To be fair I did hear about Tornelo thru mentions in Facebook but I was put off by it because it also offered expensive courses to certify people who can run Tornelo tournaments. It felt like another for money fiasco to get certified by paying exhorbitant amounts but getting really poor qualified / trained people. But that's of course unfair to judge without evidence but it has happened too often where chess is concerned so I just assumed it is the same here.
Give Tornelo a chance?
So upon inspection I see that there is no evidence of any thing bad about Tornelo so I will give it the benefit of the doubt.
What I like
is the platform and objectives of Tornelo. They are trying to make online play as close as possible to over the board play which is a huge undertaking and will be great if can be achieved seeing how cheating is a big problem in chess. Over the board chess cheating is a big problem even before the pandameic and the problem is multiplied by a huge factor via online play.
What I still don't like
is the exhorbitant fees charged for certification.
200 Euro (RM 980) just to be a certified Tornelo Arbiter ? Really ?
But if you come from the world of FIDE certification, this is the norm. I may hate it but the chess community seems to be ok with it.More Questions
Of course this is the limited view of the ignorant frog in me so again I asked for forgiveness for mistakes made. If you have something to add please do. Also Tornelo is still relatively new, looks promising and maybe in time may prove itself to be a useful platform for online chess tournaments to take place.
Also besides pure online play, there is also the very interesting hybrid form of chess mixing online and in person play.
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