Why are Chess Clubs Dieing?

It's just like many people have played or know how to play billiards/pool. But few of those join a league or enter into a tournament.

Well I think that alot is already covered in this post. I'm a member of 2 local chess clubs (one is about 2 miles away and the other one around 4 miles or so). About a year ago I rejoined these clubs after being gone from them for 9 years and the clubs are for the biggest part identical to the conditions that Scarblac mentioned.

These clubs have around 30 members each including 5-10 and 4 people of around my age. That makes them have almost 50% young players and 50% seniors.

One of the reasons I play in these clubs is that online play doesn't compare to the joy I get from playing OTB:

• A real chess board and pieces that you can physically grab and move around;
• The pressure;
• The expressions on my opponents faces;
• The adrenaline in a critical position;
• I get to meet a lot of nice people that I can talk with about everything.

When I play online I don't have these things. Because of that I tend to concentrate alot less on my games and play much worse chess. Sometimes I even get disgusted of myself in online chess because the moves are simply horrible.

Another reason is that I've got WAY too much time on my hands that I really need to spend on something.

Going a bomb in the developing World, China in particular.

Plain fact is in the West too many distractions.

 Well it isn't here... We have a youth chess club that has now the highest amount of kids that we ever had!

Here in Kansas, you can't get the clubs to go for serious chess. It's either 5-minute speed garbage or no rating changes at all. This is egotism mixed with cowardice on the part of the players I've seen over here. Some of us like serious competitive play, not garbage chess. If I wanted that, I could play on the internet.

What can be done about the problem?

I went to your state open 3-4 years ago, and it was a standard time control, something around 100 players.  Top seed was Shulman, I think he got 2nd though.

As soon as you place a monetary value on anything, things begin to go downhill.  So many are chasing the all mighty dollar at the expense of morality, and just plain ole doing the right thing.  People basing there self worth on how big their high def tv is, how many tv's they have in the car, wo can but more name brand crap.  If you truely want to see how pathetic we have become as a society, just to go a mall and observe. 

Watch the mass of unhappy people shuffling around oblivious to everything around them.  On there phone, ipods, no one says excuse me, no one holds a door for anyone, and if you do hold a door open see how often you get a thankyou. 

Its all about instant gratification at high interest rates. 

If you want to see how good a person is, watch how they treat someone that can do them absolutely no good.  Watch people in their car at a stop light with a homeless person around.  They will act like the dont even notice the homeless person.  How many of us woud even take the last $20 from our pocket and give it to someone less fortunate? 

I wonder if there's something that could be done like they did with poker.  Once they added the cameras and you could see what the guy had, it took off.  

If they could get it on tv, and make it exciting somehow, it might take off. For example, I know how much the diehards or classical (for lack of a better term) would hate to see all competition down to 5 or even 3 minutes a side, people might be more willing to watch a game.

Not really contributing to the discussion of why chess clubs are dying but...

Just as the "ing" form of the verb "to lie" is lying, the "ing" form of the verb "to die" is dying. Dieing is not a word.

 Some of us live in places where there is a bum on most corners, that could get expensive.

What if you get mugged?

We had lot of young people interested when the weather man showed up with his TV crew to play a simul.  I thought about giving out state flags for games won on a ladder or attendence.  The drive isnt the problem here. Times are changing with most types of clubs not just chess. Different culture in America, fast food, internet, quick fix, texting instead of talking (communication is different).

I occasionally go to an informal chess club that meets every Saturday for 2 hours, but it's a 20 minute drive one way to get there.  The other alternative is driving about an hour and a half every Sunday to another town to a club there. 

I do enjoy playing OTB, but enjoy the wider range of online players, plus with my busy schedule it's easier to play correspondence chess here than it is to meet someone in person or even play live chess online.

A friend of mine on occasion goes to Washington DC and plays some of the homeless people there.  He says they kick his butt all the time.  I guess when you don't have a bunch of other distractions, chess is easier to concentrate on.

I considered starting a chess club in my own school but I doubted there would have been ten members. I played with about five people. However, two of them were seniors and graduated before I could create 1. The others except for 1 person have something to do that period. NObody knows how to play or thinks it requires too much thinking or time. On a side note, I played a teacher 10 times and won 9.

Running a successful anything requires work so unless you have people willing to step up and keep things interesting people are going to lose interest.

Our club is less than two years old and we have already hosted two matches and are planning a third with prizes. We have members volunteer to do PR, graphics and even do simple seminars. We play as a team and our club games are not against our fellow members but considered practice for when we play other teams. We meet upstairs from a coffee house and the owner donates prizes for our matches.

We are friends. We have a vibrant club with members of all skill levels, the better players are willing to teach. We discuss our games. We have 24 members, of which we usually get 10 playing on a regular basis.

I guess I'm just lucky.

it is more important today to be in good shape than to be member of a chess club. running and other activities are very important to keep diabetic decease away.

I have been member of a OTB chess club for 4-5 years now.
most of my work is mostly sitting down for 7.4 hours a days
after work I go to a chess club and sit 3 hours more....does that make sense. playing chess online I can even stand up at the computer desk at home.
would be kind of funny standing up in the club playing against someone sitting. therefore I don't know if I want to continue OTB
furthermore going to a tournament 7 weekdays there you must be quiet as if it was a school test for up to 6 hours.
don't meant to sound negative but you asked why chess clubs are dieing.

typically its funding and low attendance.  seems to me that is happening around the world. in my area its not that bad. we have a chess camp that gets a good amount of players. some just maybe dont want to pay the money.

Good question. You can get your fix here, saves driving or travel.