We lose a lot of members as they transition to High School, more going into college, and still more going into adulthood.
From what I can tell, chess ratings can be described with a chi-squared distribution, and the peak of that distribution for adult players whose membership has lapsed in the last 15 years (about 186,000 people) is around 700.
Now, many adults do not like playing kids. Kids’ ratings are often lower than their playing strength, because the rating lags their improvement. (Anyone want to work on a Kalman Filter rating system? ) And, frankly, it can just be embarrassing to lose to a 2nd grader.
So the idea is to reach out to those lapsed members with an adults-only (25 and over) Patzers and Tyros Tournament. Perhaps two sections: Patzers (U1200) and Tyros (U800). Perhaps give a $5 discount on the Entry Fee to those who renew memberships.
I think if we orient a few tournaments to those players who love the game but get tired of losing in tournaments and tired of losing to kids when a tournament does have a U1200 section, we might start getting some of them back.
Wayne Clark has often said he wants to hold a tournament where the players must have a mortgage (or deed) or a lease (apartment or home) to enter the event.
Well since he is dead…He would not have a mortgage, deed, or lease. Titles are not the point…But you may want to talk with Wayne about the point he is making. I am just the messenger.
) And, frankly, it can just be embarrassing to lose to a 2nd grader.