The Pittsburgh Chess Club Is in Trouble!

It would be cool if Chess.com or some other popular chess site could start sponsering tournaments.

Yes, the fingers are corssed on this, but it is unclear whether they would support the chess club in perpetuity, despite how little money the club needs to survive.  The permanent fix is what the PCC board members are looking for is a spark in tournaments and membership.  Any kind of donation or short-term funding is a temporary fix.  Don't get me wrong, that's still helpful, because it gives the club more time to build back up its membership; but the goal is membership and a spark in the tournaments.  

As a former PCC member and on the Board of Directors  it sadens me greatly to hear of the troubles the PCC is having.  I think back to the day when we 1st move from the downtown  Y.M.C.A  to the curent location and the meny hours spent  playing  speed chess and drinking coffee, and building friendships I Remember how hard Bob Smith, myself and meny others worked to create a great environment to play chess. Dig deep and  give what ever you can and help keep the PPC alive and well.

Yeah, when I left, it was in great shape.  The core group of players went off to college, and then some of the key mature adults disappeared.

I just went to visit the Pittsburgh Chess Club (and Pittsburgh Chess League) a couple of weeks ago, and the club was dead.  Jeff Schreiber was there, Peter Jansen was the steward, and a nice fellow, whose name is slipping my mind, was briefly there before going to watch NCAA basketball.  It was so alive when I was last there: we had a group of pre-college teens constantly playing, an older group of adults analyzing Master games, and a continuous stream of players popping to catch a couple of games.  I think a big part of the PCC's bad fortune has to do with scholastic players not getting club memberships (and continuing to play as advanced teens and young adults) and Clyde Kapinos' resignation as general manager of operations.  Clyde was the heart of the Club while I was around.  He was entertaining, friendly, a reasonably good player, and a reason to visit the club, not to mention organizing all sorts of cool picnics and setting up spectacles, such as blindfold chess exhibitions (NM Bruce Leverett doing the honors) in Market Square. 

There are so many players in the Greater Pittsburgh Area that new life could easily be pumped into the Club.  I think they need about 40-50 more active members than they have --and I mean "active" in a loose sense, e.g., participating in two tournaments a year as a PCC member.

I didn't dwell much on my stop at the PCC, but I wrote about my trip here: https://www.chess.com/blog/Milliern/on-a-7-game-unbeaten-streak 

Actually, that's the sad thing about the situation.  A number of us were making road trips to support other chess clubs, but we didn't get any reciprocation.  For example, a group of us went to Morgantown, and a friend (Kent Weber) and I went so far from Pittsburgh as Toledo, and I hardly recall such road trips from other clubs in reciprocity.

I do think a local grand prix would be great, but so many clubs hold weekly events that it isn't really a matter of briefly stealing players from other clubs, but an internal problem to the city's chess scene.  People have to be willing to play in their city's club.  It could be helpful if there were a once-per-month grandprix event at a collection of clubs, possibly on Greyhound stops, and where Club members from the club's region could offer a reciprocal lodging for tournaments --sort of like chess buddy, or whatever it is called.