A radical proposal to increase Chess play in the US

All Things Chess
1

Three years ago I dove into the Chess world head first as a player, TD, and organizer. I’ve enjoyed it, but one question has always puzzled me. Why don’t more people play Chess?

I wouldn’t expect the average man on the street to play, but imagine if you could get one out of every 1,000 adults in the country to come to just one Chess tournament. That seems doable, doesn’t it?

After pondering this thought, I had an idea. I think it could get toward that goal. It would be done at the state level, but I wanted to run it by internet users for some quick feedback before presenting it to the state chapter. Also, I won’t share all the reasons I think we need this or why it would work at this time. I intend to if the thread picks up some traction, but for now, here’s the proposal.

State championships for municipal teams. Here’s how it would work. The state USCF chapter would contact the leadership of each municipality in the state. (There are 1587 of them in Michigan, ranging in population from 730,000 to 10.) They would be encouraged to hold a Chess tournament. The top four placers in that tournament would become that town’s Chess team. They would meet in a county (or parish in Lousiana) championship. Depending on the size of the state, county winners would proceed to regionals, and then to a state championship. (Small states could skip the regionals.) The winning team carries the state championship trophy back to their home town for display in city hall, or the high school, or whatever.

All tournaments after the municipal would be team tourneys, and all would be unrated, with no memberships required.

If we did this, the first year I doubt we would get more than about 5% of the towns to hold a tournament. However, that would be 79 tournaments in Michigan. Even if only one percent responded, that would be 16, which isn’t bad. Imagine the media coverage it would generate. The second year it would grow, and by the fifth year, I think every town over 500 in the state would be participating, and a lot of the smaller ones as well.

Of course, there’s a whole lot that would have to be done to make it work. Web pages and rules and venues and everything else that would be required. I’ve thought through a lot of the details, but I’ll spare them for now, and I’ll spare the reason I think this would work. For now, what I am looking for is some brief feedback. Is there some reason Chess players would avoid this like the plague? Is there some reason no small town mayor would go for it? Have I overlooked an obvious, but critical flaw?

Let me know your thoughts.

And if that goes well, I’ll share the radical part with you. :wink:

Dave

2

In 1971 I tried to hold a chess tournament in every county seat in the State of Washington (39). The winner of each qualified for a tournament held in the center of the state. Don’t recall now just how many were held. I got mayors of several of the cities to declare “Chess Day in ___”. I got my picture taken with the mayor of Seattle. Part of the problem was I did not repeat the event in later years. I like your four player team idea.

3

I like the idea as well. Ironically a leading futurist (sorry, don’t remember his name) was talking about chess last night and his prediction fifteen or so years before the fact that a computer would defeat the world champion. From there he said something like now the greatest players will always lose to good computers etc., with a conclusion that chess is now a less significant game than it once was.

If something like this idea can create a mass following people will see how interesting playing across the board is, and the sterile mechanical view will be turned on its ear. But if people perceive the game as some sort of machine-like activity – and one that the machines do better now than humans – its popularity will go steadily downward.

4

Every municipality seems like a bit much. That’s a lot of organization.

5

Would I participate?

I am not the target audience for these tournaments as I am already a USCF member, but I’ll put that aside for now. I played on a team in one tournament years ago and I enjoyed it. Chess Life reports of US Amateur Team regional tournaments indicate that many who don’t otherwise play tournament chess stay members to participate in these. If the tournament for Glendale, AZ was on a Saturday instead of a Sunday then yes, I would play in hopes of making the team. However, I would want for the team event for Maricopa County to be rated.

6

Perhaps with a little organization we can create an Arizona Team Tournament. Contact me.

  • Enrique
7

As long as it is not rated, this looks like a creative idea to promote chess. Logistically speaking, this would require a lot of time, effort, and money from the state org. to accomplish.

The task will be daunting. We attempted to set up a scholastic league once. It was to be unrated. We contacted all local school districts by mail using special letterhead and details how easy it would work, benefits to the kids, etc.; by phone; and the internet. Even made appointments for face to face meetings with administrators. We received either direct no’s, polite no’s, or “we will get back to you.” Most said they had budget problems, couldn’t find anyone to sponsor the kids, it would be too hard for them to do it, etc. It was very costly to try to do this, but we gave it a shot and flamed out.

It is hard enough to find a place to put a chess club, much less set up a state wide event. You will need venues for your initial tournaments, TDs to run them, and possibly sponsors to defray the costs. I would suggest a very low or no entry fee to enter to put an emphasis on the fun aspect of the enterprise. This will be especially necessary in urban areas, both small and large.

The contacting of all municipalities will be expensive if you are doing mailings. Any real official correspondence with a town or city must be done by mail or by setting up a personal appointment with the proper official. Calling or using the internet usually leads nowhere when you deal with cities. They do not take it seriously or the contact falls through the cracks of the bureaucracy. A real official piece of paper that can go from place to place, which can be copied, and filed for future reference might still not get you anywhere, but if you are lucky it will get read and given consideration. Cities are still old school in their approach.

8

Would I direct the tournament for Glendale, AZ?

I don’t have extra clocks or extra boards, and if this tournament draws the target audience then many players will not have equipment. Let’s say that I spend $100 to obtain 10 tournament sets, which might cover a first-year mediocre turn-out. It would still be necessary to start many games without clocks and put clocks on the games not finishing as is done in scholastic tournaments. There would need to be at least 30 minutes between rounds as games will not finish on time. The games are not likely to start on time either. The time control will need to be fast enough to keep the interest of the players who are new to tournament chess and do not want to commit to an all-day event, and this will doubtless be too fast for some established players. This is too much work to both direct and play, and my reason for participating is to play. I won’t direct the Glendale tournament, but I’ll trade with a TD and direct Peoria, Paradise Valley, or another nearby municipality so that I can play in Glendale’s tournament.

Would I organize the tournament for Glendale, AZ (or trade towns with another TD)?

No. This involves contacting the mayor or city officials and getting the word out to non-USCF players. It involves securing a site. It involves contacting local media so that they can cover the event if it is a slow news day. It involves making sure that any player who shows up and is interested in the USCF can learn about it and join. A lot of that is best done during regular business hours when I am not available. Even if I had availability, I am not interested in most of these activities. It would turn much of my hobby time into activities other than my hobby (which is playing, not organizing). I might assist with a few of these activities, but I am not likely to volunteer for this.

Would I direct/organize a Maricopa County team tournament? No. I want to play if I can qualify. Such an event could easily exceed my entry-level TD qualifications.

9

If the USCF were to hire someone full time to do the thankless organizing tasks for which I and others will not volunteer, they might need to generate 300 or 400 new memberships per month to justify the position. The number is a rough guess: memberships are not all “profit”, and they are not all the most expensive adult memberships, and the position has more costs than the person’s salary. If Dave’s idea or any other results in new memberships on that level then it is consistent with the USCF’s mission to support it. It isn’t worth running at a loss.

10

Great replies so far.

Cost is the big gorilla in the room. Who’s going to pay for all this?

Let’s focus on the initial stage, which is the municipal tournaments. What’s the cost?

Some elements that have been mentioned already as leading to cost:

Contacts. Yes, that would be expensive, if we did it the way I initially thought of, which was writing letters. When I realized that was 1587 stamps for Michigan, I figured we would need a plan B. There’s a huge difference between a small town mayor and a big city mayor. Of Michigan’s 1587 municipalities, 198 of them have a population of 10,000 or more. Letters to those 198 would cost about 100 bucks. That’s easy to find. The small town mayors can be contacted by email. Yes, it decreases your hit rate, but keep in mind that we don’t need a big hit rate. If we get 5%, then the second year we have automatic free media exposure and since we have a web site dedicated to this tournament series, they contact us, and we’re in the rest of the cities. If you achieve critical mass, which I think is around 5%, the rest takes care of itself.

We also take advantage of existing built in contacts like Chess clubs, Chess programs in schools, USCF members who are willing to put in a bit of time, etc.

Equipment: As tournament players, we have a minimum threshold of equipment quality, a large vinyl board and club pieces are required, and we scoff at anything less.

K-Mart is teeming with Chess boards. You know, the ones with red and black squares that also come with Checkers. Would you play on those? No, and you wouldn’t have to because you would bring your board, but the people who have never been to a tournament would be willing to use them, and they already own them.

Clocks are more problematic. If you don’t have at least a couple of clocks, then even the smallest tournaments are hard to run In the pre-tournament publicity, you point to a web site that includes good, inexpensive tournament sets and clocks, and hope tht some people will buy them. Even then, you have to modify USCF rules to deal with the contingency that not a single Chess clock is available. It’s inconvenient Fortunately, about 2/3 of the population now has a stopwatch in their pocket most of the time (on the “tools” menu of their cell phone) and while that would be a pain in the neck, it could be done.

Keep in mind that there will be two sorts of players in the tournaments. Those who have never played will deal with the substandard equipment. Those who are already tourney players will have at least minimal quality Chess equipment. It’s a problem, but i’s not a huge problem.

TDs: We don’t need no stinking TDs, at least not “real”, “official” TDs. For the municipal and county tournaments, we may actually rely on common sense interpretations of how to play chess, instead of invoking rule 10C.

Venues: Here’s the big, big, cost for a typical tournament, and here’s where the “municipal team” becomes important. There is actually a whole lot of idle space in a typical town on a typical Staturday afternoon, in libraries, community centers, schools, and churches. If you want to play Chess in them, someone will make you pay. However, if you turn that into a municipal, city sponsored event, someone will donate the space for free or at low cost.

Publicity: Again, you count on free publicity. They’ll put it in the school newsletter and the school kids will play, and the parents will hear about it from the kids.

Did I miss anything?

Of course, most cities won’t play along, at first. We don’t need them to. 5%. One out of every twenty. If we get to that point, we can rapidly expand from 5% to 95%, and I think it won’t be expensive to get to 5%. It will require a lot of work. In Michigan, I know we can find the volunteers to make it happen. That would be me and a few friends.

The county, regional, and state championships would require some money input, but it would be measured in hundreds, not thousands. We can raise that. Most people won’t mind a small fee to play. You have to keep it under ten bucks. Five would be better.

11

I wanted to address this specifically, but briefly. I’m hoping that there is sufficient difference between my proposal and this one that the reasons they said “no” don’t apply here. In the case of a “scholastic league” where school administrators are involved, you are suddenly creating some sort of official school activity. Official school activities need official school employees to supervise them. That’s a headache and/or cost they didn’t want.

This is a community activity, but one with no official connection, really, with the community. I don’t think that the city leaders putting in a good word with the local librarian actually creates a liability issue, although this is America, so I could be wrong.

Here in Michigan, one of the biggest problems I see is that a lot of city related cites have strong union contracts that say you can’t use a school, community center, etc, unless you have a union janitor present the whole time. That would torpedo the idea for those venues. However, not many churches have such contracts. We only need one.

12

Go ahead and try it. I think you are underestimating your contact costs as you will have to include the cost of copies, envelopes, as well as the stamps. It really starts to add up if you are trying to having mass contacts.

Also, you really will need competent TDs if you run these events, people with some skill in organizing, dealing with people, and the ability to do pairings properly. If you get a big turnout in a place and the TD does not know what he is doing, the bad publicity generated will have a ripple effect. Even if you have a small number, it helps to have someone who knows what he is doing to set a standard for future organizers to follow. It isn’t just about some interpretation about a particular rule.

You will be lucky to get free venues even if it is a municipal event. One of our local Parks and Recreation Depts. with all of the authority of the municipality behind it has a hard time getting venues, free or otherwise for its events. Churches sometimes have services, classes, or other activities on Saturdays. Churches also rent out their halls for weddings. Then there are the Saturday Bingo events.

“Free” publicity doesn’t usually go very far. You will need to promote your event through every available media. Flyers, posters cost money, too. Getting the local newspaper to print an article and a followup can be helpful for future events. Most people only consider pre-event publicity. The post-event publicity and acknowledgements are just as important for growth of the event over time. Too many promoters forget to say thank you and do not get invited back.

13

Yeah, not to be a jerk, but go ahead and try it in Michigan and let’s see how it goes. I’d love for it to be a huge success.

14

Moderator Mode: Off

This is very similar to a proposal I made a few weeks ago except it is with teams and players that aren’t USCF rated.

The one thing I wonder about this idea is how many small municipalities could muster up even 4 chess players that would want to play in a tournament.

I started my first chess club in a town of 7000. We drew from surrounding communities and got about 6 people to play. Of those 6 there were maybe 3 that had any interest at all in anything more than this club/coffee house chess. At a minimum we had 5 municipalities involved to get those 3, and come to think of it that was the county. The county had a population of 35,000.

Depending on the size of the area, you might want to look at more of a regional/county level to begin with.

I do like the idea of having a team competition. The problem is once again where all the chess players will come from in the more rural areas.

15

I prefer Team Blind competition, since pure Team events exclude players wanting to play ( yes, like me), but not good enough to make the team.

16

One reason for starting a thread on the subject is to force myself to think through some things.

Most government officials will ignore the notice. There has to be a way to allow an interested inidividual a way to volunteer to hold the tournament without “official” sanction of the munipal government. In other words, if the Niles, Michigan city council ignored the email, which most would, if anyone living in Niles liked the idea, he could contact MCA via the web page set up for the event, and declare himself the event organizer.

For small municipalities, if they were the only ones who wanted to play, they could declare themselves to be the team. If multiple people volunteered, there would have to be a bid process. That is primarily for the big cities where the city government might ignore it, but several different people would be willing to do something.

Meanwhile, some suburban counties would have to be split into multiples. Oakland County, Michigan, has 62 municipalities. If every one sent a team, there would be a tournament of 248 players at the county level. That would not do.

17

Organizers do not usually pop up out of thin air. Doing what you suggest takes enormous amounts of time and energy. You might have to provide the organizational superstructure yourself. Most people do not like to work that hard for so little reward or psychic gratification. This doesn’t only apply to chess but to all volunteer activities. It is going to be up to you to plant the seeds, nurture them, and oversee the growth.

18

I would recommend cutting out municipalities, and start with counties. Contact the county seats, etc.

19

With all due respect, not really. At least, not if you are talking about being a tournament organizer.

I do it. It’s pretty simple. I can’t understand why more people don’t do it. Finding a suitable site can be difficult. Finding players to play can be difficult or impossible. Other than that, you need tables and chairs. I’m lucky that I stumbled on a great site for my tournaments, so one headache was shoved out of the way. Other than that, as a tournament organizer, in all seriousness, my biggest headache is trying to estimate the proper number of pizzas to order. Seriously.

Chess is about the easiest thing in the world to direct. What difficulties do exist come about largely because of all the trappings associated with a rated tournament and USCF requirements. Poof They’re gone.

A thought occurred to me. Last year, the Boy Scouts of America announced that there would be a Chess Merit Badge in the near future. If I know the BSA (I’m a merit badge counselor), one of the requirements will be to hold some sort of tournament, or assist in organizing one.

If they announce it soon, we just got delivered hundreds of potential organizers. Not only that, but these would-be Eagle Scouts , and their parents, are part of troops that have sponsoring organizations. Those sponsors are usually churches. Hello, venues.

Putting together the supporting infrastructure would, indeed, be a lot fo work. Too much for one person, but I’m willing to be the guy who leads the effort. I’m here right now because I want to be sure that I haven’t overlooked anything extreme as a reason this scheme simply can’t work, so that if I propose it to the Michigan Chess Association, I can put forth a credible appearance that this can work. If I can get a few people to play along and carry a part of the slack, it can work.

(And if any other MCA members are reading this, feel free to talk amonst yourselves and think about how this could be done.)

20

Ultimately, it comes down to chess -vs- other avenues of enjoyment.

The only way to increase chess playing as a whole is to get kids hooked when they’re younger, or in school at any age. Adults that didn’t play chess as kids are unlikely to take up the game.

But kids are so hooked into everything (social networking), that most games that don’t provide immediate gratification with minimal instruction (think Angry Birds or Tetris) won’t appeal to the them.