"Interview of a Club Owner" #3: @chessisgreat940 (The Eevee Lovers)
Hi, friends!
How are you?
Today, it's the 3rd episode of this series of articles called "Interview of a Club Owner"! You loved the 2 article on @Mergan_Chetty and @PEDROJGC10, this week it's @chessisgreat940 who is the owner of The Eevee Lovers!
Are you ready? Here we go!
(ME) 1. What's your name?
(chessisgreat) 1. I’m @chessisgreat940.
(ME) 2. When and how did you discover chess?
(ME) 3. Same question with Chess.com?
(chessisgreat) 2&3. At a young age, I discovered my passion for chess in a chess class. However, I didn’t improve much until 2021, and then it’s all history.
(ME) 4. When did you create your first club?
( Name of the club)
(chessisgreat) 4. A few years ago, I created The Eevee Lovers: a small, peaceful club that was just like any other. Except it wasn’t meant to be just that.
(ME) 5. Let's talk about your club The Eevee Lovers. How many members does it have today, and are you happy with it?
How many do you think you'll have in a year?
(chessisgreat) 5. My club currently sits at about 670 members. I’m arguably pretty happy about my result, seeing as it was my very first club. I wasn’t quite engaged with the community at the time, so it was a step forward. I hope to have more members in a year, but I’m not sure. The growth of the club has hit a roadblock over the past year, but I hope it’ll be revived and will continue rising the Vote Chess ranks!
(ME) 6. Remember that your club is ranked 7th in the world in Vote Chess! First of all, congratulations!
How did you manage to build such a strong community that shines so brightly in Vote Chess?
(chessisgreat) 6. A lot of perseverance and hard work. At the beginning of 2022, I started some vote chess games as an experiment. But then, the vote chess games would increase and increase, and more and more members would keep joining, leading to the club that you see today. Just keep adding more vote chess games!
(ME) 7. Who have been your allies in this success? Are there any people you'd like to thank for their work?
(chessisgreat) 7. Most importantly, I’d like to thank @Umspeon for helping me co-manage the club. They have been so helpful in making sure the club runs smoothly. I’d also like to thank @Waterstone33 for their work in maintaining the club and participating. Even if our ties were rocky, I still want to thank you for all you’ve done.
(ME) 8. Has this club enabled you to make contact with any famous titled players?
(chessisgreat) 8. I can’t say I haven’t tried! However, I haven’t been able to contact any famous titled players yet. Once we reach a certain point, it might change.
(ME) 9. Do you think your club is capable of reaching 1st place? If so, when? Isn't Chess School unbeatable?
(chessisgreat) 9. This one’s tricky. I doubt that my club will have enough momentum to rise to the top. After all, Chess School has 28 thousand points compared to my nearly 4 thousand. However, I think that overtaking 4th and 5th is somewhat more plausible. I’d say that if my club could overtake Chess School, it’d be in perhaps 10-20 years. Chess School still has its fair share of issues, though. In the current setting, I think that PFCC (Philippines’ Finest Chess Club) is going to overtake Chess School. Their mind-blowing 100-150 games at once is more than enough to lead them to first place. It’s quite hard to manage that many games, as a matter of fact. Our record was about 300 games at once, but I strongly advise any aspiring club owner against taking that upon yourself.
(ME) 10. In your opinion, will TURK CHESS PLAYERS remain at the top of the team match rankings indefinitely, or will it one day be overtaken? When and by whom?
(chessisgreat) 10. TCP is safe, and as clubs have existed for years at this point, it’ll take another few years for anyone to catch up to them, let alone the fact that they’re still going! I think the best chance any club’s got is once again PFCC, but it would take years and years.
(ME) 11. Final question. If you had one piece of advice to give to all players wishing to start a club, what would it be?
(chessisgreat) 11. Don’t go too far. Remember that no person can do anything by themselves, and make sure to hire a couple of co-admins to run the club alongside you. Make sure to give all your club members something to wake up and look forward to every day.
If you want to follow my club’s example, once again, don’t go to the extreme. Those 300 vote chess games are tough to keep up to the point that if even a day goes by without a move, over half of those games can be instantly lost. Give yourself plenty of time and rest.
(ME) Ok thanks for your answers!
Have a nice day!
Thank you all for reading this article, feel free to give your opinion in comments!
This is chessisgreat's club:
Have a nice day and see you soon!
RAPHAEL1127
