I've been really enjoying watching the MIH 14.1 event. The round robin format reminds me of a modern version of those old world championships from the early part of the 20th century.
It would be wonderful to see a real revival of those events for the sake of posterity. Invite the top 6-8 14.1 players in the world based on the winners of the few major 14.1 events that are available each year and have a double round robin event. That would be great fun.
Oh well, back to my homework.
That's not a bad idea. It would certainly cut down on the production costs. Also, if a spectator had a favorite, he would be sure of being able to see him in a bunch of long matches. I think it would be best to have a single-elimination playoff among the top four, though.
A major problem is how to select the players if it's going to be a real world championship. There are six continental confederations in the WPA, so if each wanted to send a player, you would have six to start with.
If you had eight players total including, perhaps, the reigning champ (Feijen?) and the runner-up, you could do it on two tables in fourteen rounds for a five-day tournament with a relatively relaxed schedule. The eighth player might instead be decided by an at-the-venue qualifying tournament, with additional players coming from the tournament if any Confederation failed to send someone.
Another advantage of having a fairly small number of players is that there is no need for an entry fee. I have heard that the WPA would accept a relatively low added-money amount for a 14.1 World Championship, maybe $25k or $50k. A possible prize breakdown would be $1.5k for the four who don't make the elimination round, and $4k, $8k, and $16k for the three levels of final finishers. (That's 38k total.)
Another option is to pay for the travel and lodging of all the nominated players and reduce the prize fund. That would make it possible for even poor continental confederations, such as North America, to enter a player.
I think it would be nice to have challenge matches after the round robin just like the old days. Maybe to 2000 points. Players who got into the single-elimination would be eligible to challenge.