Question for "Old Timers"

We all know that Booby Fischer, especially with his WC match, inspired a chess renaissance in the USA.

For the sake of argument, I'll put this surge between 1970-1975. 

I'm trying to determine if these was a large increase in USCF membership during those years and, if there was (which seems reasonable to just assume), did that increase in membership extend into the 1980s or did it quickly fizzle out?

I'm 99% certain that Fisher's ascendancy did result in a large increase in USCF membership during the period 1970-1975.  Less certain though if that extended into, or throughout the 1980's.  But if you were to compare USCF membership numbers in the early 1980's to those in the late 1980's I believe they would show a decreasing trend.  This is based on my understanding of information relating to this that I have encountered over the years, but I don't have the "official" data at hand to prove it definitively.

Check the sentence in the second paragraph of the History section of the USCF Wikipedia article.....i.e., 

"Membership experienced consistent, modest growth until 1958, when Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Championship at the age of 14. This began the "Fischer era", during which USCF membership grew thirty-fold, to approximately 60,000 in 1974, after Fischer had won the World Chess Championship."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chess_Federation

Otherwise you might contact the USCF (US Chess) directly......

From the USCF website:

FAQ's related to US Chess:

Q: How do I contact US Chess?

A: Email us at:  Contact Us or use our Staff Directory.

Q: How can I get information for a membership and a free copy of Chess Life?

A: Call our office at 800-903-8723 X4 Monday-Friday 8am-5pm Central time; email us at tlee@uschess.org; write to us at US Chess, PO Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557; or fax us at 931-787-1200. Include your name and address and we will gladly send you a sample magazine and membership details.

It did fizzle out, though I am not sure how quick, but likely you can find something, perhaps in the April Yearbook issues of Chess Life to tell you how many there were in each year.

Thanks. That's about what I imagined. I'm really trying to determine the membership trend from 1976-1990.   More membership generally = more money.  Between 1976 and 1985, there were five US Women's Championships either cancelled or never scheduled presumably for lack of funds.  Between 1986 and 1990, only one was cancelled. That seems backwards to me.   My mind is telling me to connect the membership roles to the funding.  But, of course, there were outside sponsors too. It would seem to me that in the years immediately following Fischer Fever, sponsors would be more forthcoming, so the same line of reasoning would suggest less cancellations in the late 70, early 80s and more in the late 80s. 

Computers.  From 1986 to 1990 there were funding agreements with oh I forget the name, maybe Mephisoto or something like that.  These mostly were the computers that had their own pieces, not the type that were software for your computer.

yes he was a ladies man. He gave whole new context to "Gone Fishin"

I just looked all through the April 1977 issue - I saw a nice photo of Andy Soltis with Ken Regan, so it wasn't a total loss, but nothing about membership numbers.  

Pre-Mephisto:

I am 69 and I remember those times. I became a member when I played in my first tournament in March1969. At that time the membership was growing steadily from 10k in the early 60's to 20k or so. Chess was not a really poplar pastime in the 60's. After all the interest in Bobby Fisher World Match membership spiked to about 70k at it's peak. A lot of those people didn't stay with chess but a lot of them did. Membership dropped down to about 45k by the late 70's as Fischer dropped out of chess. Chess was a lot more popular due to Bobby Fischer so we owe him a debt of gratitude. If he had stayed in chess and not gone crazy, I am sure chess would have been even more popular still. Now this strictly from my memory, so don't please don't criticize if I have not got some facts exactly right.

Thanks. I'm not here to criticize, but to learn. 

It is now possible to download, at no charge, previous copies of Chess Life and Chess Review from the archives on the USCF servers.  

CHESS LIFE AND CHESS REVIEW ARCHIVES...

https://new.uschess.org/chess-life-digital-archives/

and a related item...

Bruce Pandolfini edited a wonderful 2-volume compilation of selected articles of Chess Life and Chess Review spanning the period 1933-1988.  The second volume covers the period 1960-1988, including the Fischer years, with detailed coverage of the 1972 world championship match with Spassky, and both Karpov-Kasparov world championship matches.   These books are a treasure of my chess book collection and, especially for the historically inclined (Batgirl), a delight to read...

The Best of Chess Life and Review, Vols 1&2 by Bruce Pandolfini...

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bruce+pandolfini+the+best+of+chess+life+and+review&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

I was a member of USCF for a long time. from 1969 to about 2009. I let my membership lapse because I don't play in tournaments anymore and it was expensive. I remember seeing charts of the membership numbers in old Chess Lifes. The membership was growing from about 69 until the match in 1972. Fischer won the Interzonal tournament after Pal Benko gave up his spot in the tournament so he could play (for some reason he didn't qualify-don't remember the details-I think he quit some tournament over a dispute). Anyway, He beat Mark Taimanov 6-0 in the first round, which at the time was unheard of. Then he did the same to Bengt Larsen 6-0. Then he beat Petrosian, a former World Champion 61/2 to 21/2. Such lopsided scores were unheard of in the Candidates Matches. By the time he got to Spassky it was not a matter whether he would beat him it was whether he would complete the match. He was very tempermental and at times, childish. Anyway he beat Spassky easily and almost never played again. It was great time for chess.

I can see parallels between the Miracle on Ice in 1980 and the Fischer-Spassky match. US vs USSR.

As I recall seeing stats, long time ago, there was a GIANT leap in membership, roughly 72-78.

Then it dropped like a rock, as it was obvious Bobby wasn't coming back.

Then about '86 membership began to increase again, more naturally this time.

But not as dramatically. 

Facts are always important, but as someone working on the oral histories of chess players (if you are interested in this project please let me know) for CJA/USCT/WCHOF (wow, talk about alphabet soup!), I whole heartedly agree that telling a good story is a wonderful thing.

@batgirl, check out the December 2019 issue of Chess Life. There are articles about the 80 years US Chess has existed and I believe you'll find a lot about the Fischer membership boom as well as the decline. There's a lot of great US Chess history in that issue. 

Booby Fischer?

I was a USCF member from 1976 to 1980.  I lived in Pittsburg at the time, and there was at least one large tournament per month when I joined.  Things went downhill rapidly from 1976.  I remember the Pittsburgh Chess Club Championship being cancelled one year for lack of interest.  It wasn't long before the number of tournaments each year was reduced.  USCF membership was probably following the same trend.

I'm sure she was just seeing if anyone was awake. Congrats, you were the one! (Well, you and zembrianator.)

Ben turkluyüm :wn :wp :wb :wr :wq :bp :bn :bb :br İyi oyunSelam :tup :tup :tup :tup :tup :diamond :diamond :board :play