batgirl wrote:
For some reason I keep reading Why Are Chess Clubs Dieting?
Maybe its a Freudian slip since sitting around and playing chess has been causing us to gain too much weight! Lol, thanx 4 the laff!
Why are Chess Clubs Dieing?
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The chess club in my area costs $80.00 a year and it is limited to a few people mostly younger people. www.chess.com costs me $100.00 per year and I get to play with people all over the world and there are tons of learning tools like tactics trainer, chess mentor etc. I would like to met real people and play in real tournaments and get USCF rated.
I drive 30 to 40 mins to go to the closest club thats actually good. My little chess club has about 20 people and we have 10 that are truely active most of the time and the distribution of skill levels are quite uniform so most people enjoy a good chess game every week. I usually hitch hike with the TD that lives near me to go to far away chess tournaments since I love sleeping while driving on long chess events. Texas is a great chess state.
staggerlee wrote:
My chess club experiences have had two problems which are tied together and feed into each other: very few people there in the first place, so interest in continuing to go died off. Playing the same 3-4 people can sometimes get old, especially if you have the second problem I had. The second problem was no even competition. The people at the club either beat me mercilessly or were total novices trying to get started, so I could whip them. There was some cooperation and attempts to teach weaker players, but some people just wanted to play.
Yes staggerlee, that is the same experience I had when in New Zealand. The chess club my kids n I went to, I thought would actually teach you to play but they throw you in the deep end by making you play against others straight away. They had an extensive library, but I felt it was too much for my kids at such a young age. Yet to play a night you only needed to pay $2. This was to help pay for tea/coffee biscuits and such in between tournaments. I must admit, being in room full of chess enthusiasts made one feel part of something and one made friends there that is not like being friends on line. But the computer is very handy to play against others outside chess club. My kids n I do miss the chess club scene. It was a nice outing for us on a Wednesday night.
Chess is thriving in our prisons, where internet and mindless electronic stimulation devices are prohibited. On the whole, we (humans) are drifting en masse toward mindless electronic stimulation. Chess won't win this battle; it's already over.
A lot of people are afraid of being injured while playing chess over the board and are afraid of being ridiculed if they choose to wear chess helmets. People nowdays are much more afraid of concussions than they used to be.
What planet do you people hail from? There are multiple chess clubs in any decent sized city. Drive to one. And if you live in a "rural area," play online. Simple.
batgirl wrote:
For some reason I keep reading Why Are Chess Clubs Dieting?
A Freudian slip on this thread? Is it dieing (sic), or sick of dieting?
Either way the OP should fix his boneheaded typing.
But after fully 3 years worth of posts, he probably died from dieting.
Blame the
Internet, there just are,nt any clubs where i live, all gone. Lost like tears in the rain, perfume in the breeze.
Great topic, as I've been recently thinking of starting a chess club in Raleigh, North Carolina. Interesting to read other people's comments.
To me, it seems like the rise of internet chess over the past 10-15 years is actually having a positive effect on American Youth Chess. Kids at home can see that there's a community of chess players and enthusiasts beyond their schools and local cities, and they can get their feet wet online and assess whether chess is for them or not. My hunch is that this is why the U.S. currently has a youngish top 10 FIDE player in Nakamura and several teen players (e.g., Ray Robson) who will be there in a few short years.
If anything, this should lead to more enthusiasm at the local, club level over the next 10-15 years.
For small informal clubs with a wide gap in playing skill between members, can't you employ chess handicapping? This is how games like Shogi and Go address this (extremely common) situation. In fact, handicapping is the standard method for tutoring these games. Why not do the same with (Western) chess?
zslane wrote:
For small informal clubs with a wide gap in playing skill between members, can't you employ chess handicapping? This is how games like Shogi and Go address this (extremely common) situation. In fact, handicapping is the standard method for tutoring these games. Why not do the same with (Western) chess?
I have played handicapped chess opponents at my old chess club and its even worse when you lose after your opponent is handicapped a Queen or rook. I'd rather play normal chess against better players than play already up a few peices. Its weird playing against someone when thier Queen, rook or knight is taken away. It sort of puts me off knowing i'm that bad that they have to take peices away from my opponent to even it up...like Charlie Brown says"...how embarrassing!"
It must be a cultural thing then. Or maybe that handicapping in chess is not really built into its design. But in Shogi and Go, handicapping is a standard way to make a game competitive between mismatched players. Players of those games would be bewildered by anyone who would rather be pointlessly crushed in an even game than have a valuable (learning) experience thanks to the handicap.
I have looked into all of the local chess clubs in my area (Houston) and am disappointed. I have sent emails and left voicemails and can't seem to get a response, which is odd, because I know at least one local club is hurting for money. My experience is they lack organization and vision. I know from talking with others and fb posts on club pages, that they typically focus on tournaments and are made up of stronger players. I haven't seen or heard of any club actively recruiting beginners, which will expand the community and feed lessons and future tournaments.
Our chess club (http://www.hastingschessclub.co.uk/) is up to ninty-five members. This doesn't happen by chance, we run a website, a twitter account, run regular events and have a publicity officer. The creation of a Facebook account is currently under consideration.
It's not easy keeping the numbers up and probably impossible, without a number of members willing to shoulder the various burdens.
The club I currently attend has no organized activity . I think this hurts any club . The players arrive , pair off ( usually against the same one or two opponent(s) ) every week and play a handful of games and then go home . Another minus for me is only one other player likes to play 5 0 blitz , which I prefer .
There are no clubs within 40 minutes of me. There are, however, dozens of karate organizations, musical programs, and videogame clubs. Only the not-so-smart kids attend them too.
Reb wrote:
The club I currently attend has no organized activity . I think this hurts any club . The players arrive , pair off ( usually against the same one or two opponent(s) ) every week and play a handful of games and then go home . Another minus for me is only one other player likes to play 5 0 blitz , which I prefer .
My club keeps a bunch of people coming by having G-29 & G-10 (even the occasional G-5) every other week or so. Of course you need a TD, and if they are going to be rated, you'll need USCF membership (pricey) and at least a few bucks for a rating fee.
http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/AffDtlTnmtHst.php?A6030583
My club in durango, colorado has more or less completely dissapeared...it was going well for a bit with our 5ish members and then everyone started moving away and stopped showing up which was when it kinda stopped. it sucks cus now i only know one person in this town who will play me who is around my level and for some reason i just dont do well with online chess...i cant get into the mood for a serious game when i cant see my opponent :/
Chess clubs are not dying. It has been found that school children benefit from chess, it improves their study habits and so school officials and the USCF has also been concentrating its efforts on the kids. But there's no reason us adults should be left out of the picture since chess benefits adults as well. If you feel that the USCF and your local chess clubs has not been serving you, why not start your own chess club? We used to play chess in the park but a few years back one of our park players asked the local library officials if we could play in the library. They were only too happy to allow us to do so since due to the internet and electronic media fewer and fewer people have been going to the library to read and do research. So why not go to your local library and start your own little club?