Chess Popularity in North America

is chess getting larger or smaller in popularity north america?

Smaller.

Now go out and proselytize chess.com to help reverse that trend.

  This is something we need to turn around big time. It needs the respect in this country that it gets in the rest of the world.

   -Mark

In the US lately there have been a lot of scholastic chess programs and I think that the popularity of chess will have increased due to that after a few decades.

I'm on commission.

I think you need a big, charismatic star at the top as well as a slew of chess fans working the bottom up.

I wonder how the NA public regards chess would be different had we had Kasparov.

We probably would have thought that it's playing chess that makes you speak with that funny accent, not being Russian.

 I say more, but who knows, really.

Its a question I would love to see polled or something.  But honestly, people often regard chess as nerdy yet simultaneously so many people respect it.  I have confidence that if tournaments, even small ones, would be initiated with some decent players that people would show up and maybe pay to go.  I live in AK and there isn't that much going on, I think chess tournaments would catch on especially in small cold towns.

Also, proselytize is a verb often used for religions.  Like the priests and missionaries, that kind of stuff.  And I didn't have to look that up.

I think more people play more often thanks to the internet, but OTB is fading.  Why pay USCF $40 a year plus the local club another $25 for membership plus however much the entry fee is for the tournament plus hassle with driving to the event.  Nah, I just play at home in my bathrobe.

To catch on in North America, you need the right combination of money and sex appeal to boost the sport.  Until we have an American chess version of Natalia Pogonina and/or Tiger Woods (the 1997 version, not what he has become) there will be no mass appeal for chess in the states and prize money will never increase.

Sex appeal brings the eyeballs, eyeballs brings the sponsors, sponsors bring the money, the money brings more players.  The circle is now complete.

P.S.  Still waiting to run into Natalia here in little 'ol Augusta, GA.  I guy can dream can't he? 

Seems like chess is always there in the background, as someone pointed out, considered nerdy but also has a level of respect.  There's no other board game that commands that level of respect.  When you think of checkers, usually you think of old guys playing in small, southern towns, or old guys playing with their grandchildren, but never anything serious.  After all, when's the last time a movie was made about checkers?  But when most people think of chess, they think nerdy, ivy league types who will go on to develop the next level of technology. 

Or maybe that's just the way I think of it.

But regardless of whether or not it is hugely popular in North America, chess will always be there in the background, and it's occasionally seen on TV or in movies even if it's not an integral part of the plot.  It seems to me like it's a unique game that few people (as opposed to the general population) know how to play, and fewer know how to play well.

It's kind of like knowing Morse code.  It's a unique skill with an old history that few people possess, and even among my fellow radio amateurs, not all of them know the code.  Maybe I just enjoy having obscure skills that few people in the general population actually know how to do.

So while I would like to see chess grow, I kind of like that it seems to be a somewhat marginalized skill.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=chess 

So, how does Chess work in places like Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia?

Or there televised events?  Do the top 10-20 players make a decent living competing?  I've heard there is a chess school in every city in Armenia and/or Azerbaijan plus Russia has the Botvnikk Soviet Chess School.  Do they maintain a regular pool of spectators and sponsors to keep the sport regulated?

My East Asian Studies Professor told me "Go" has Televised events regularly in Japan, so I'm just wondering what kind of fame Chess gets in the countries where it seems most popular.

There is a club gathering 3 times a week in Alaska and it gets a small number of people, but I don't get to show up b/c of conflicting class scheduels so I don't really know how vibrant the community is about professional chess.

there are 500,000,000,000 players in north america. but only 200 in mexico, 100 in canada an 20 in wales. i think these facts speak for themselves

Mexico and Canada are in North America.

A huge star ... like a dog who can talk?

I think demographics and sponsorships are a problem for chess.  Poker exploded when Mike Sexton figured out how to put together an entertaining way to televise the game.  Casinos and any macho products are sponsorships that fit very naturally with poker.  

How do you televise chess to the masses?  Too slow and people are bored, to fast and they don't understand what they are seeing.  Do you just show the top ten in the world or do you try to show a variety of skill levels?  How do you build drama and storylines?  What sponsor would get a good return on the advertising dollar? 

I think chess will expand greatly when someone can find these answers.