GM Maurice Ashley continues to garner attention as he promotes his Millionaire Chess open, set for Las Vegas in October. As he does so, he is raising numerous ideas and starting debates on various aspects of how chess events are structured, promoted, and covered while in progress.
Most recently, he has sparked discussions on his blog and Facebook pages on two major issues: whether large prizes should be available to amateurs, and on how to improve coverage of events to the point where the public will really follow them (if that is even possible). ChessLecture.com members probably have many ideas on the latter, and maybe on the former, too. I suggest that you check out these links, and weigh in: