our club meets in one large room. during a tournament, it is clear that room should be silent but during regular unsrtuctured club times there is some disagreement. some are playing, others are discussing. what is the proper ediquette.
as president of the club, i take the responsibility to keep the noise level down. as in a library, i expect quiet or whispering. if a member wants to discuss in a normal voice, i expect him to leave the room and go outside or to an adjoining lobby area. when visiting other clubs i have experienced similar correction from the local president.
i received this from a member with a hearing loss:
"I recently sent a question to the chess clubs member’s because I became curious about the membership’s feelings as to noise in the room while they played chess. The question I asked was whether or not they felt noise inhibited their chess games while at the chess club. Or, did they prefer it to be quiet, and does talking, or light noise bother them. The response I received is briefly as follows.
Those who preferred absolute silence - 13.3 %
Those who liked it semi-quiet - 13.3 %
Those who don’t mind noise - 33.3 %
Those who like to talk, or discuss - 20 %
Those who enjoy some noise -13.3 %
Those who enjoy background noise, such as music - 6.6 %
I didn’t include either you or I, in these percentages, and it does not matter to me what you do with this information. If anything. I just thought it might be of interest to you."
i would like to know others opinions and how to deal with this.
I prefer the room to be as quiet as is practicable. If I am in a small room of 4 to 10 players, I expect it to be really quiet (only sounds of clocks ticking and pieces being “placed” on the board). It is like this at the club I play at. However, large tournaments are a different thing: the sounds of 600 players playing.
But then again, I am an “old codger” who plays poorly. I need the silence to hear myself make mistakes.
About all you can do is rotate event types, some weeks play quiet serious chess, other weeks allow for speed, bughouse, concurrent, whatever. Apportion it according to the member’s number and taste.
Me, I hate speed chess…I prefer agonizing over a position for hours on end…
But, when I ran a club, I would schedule different event types, and take my lumps during speed chess week!
I took solace in the fact that I usually had a good turnout.
When I go to chess club, it’s mostly blitz or informal games, and I go as much to socialize as I do to play chess. So I don’t expect silence (but would not enjoy loud background music).
At a tournament I find that having faint white noise, like a fan, can help drown out some other sounds.
Yes, have a mix of events and ask everyone to participate. The most annoying thing to me as an organizer is to have the same two players only play each other every meeting. Second most annoying is that some players get their fix on either the nightly meetings or the weekend tournaments and will not support the other event. I applaud you for playing in an event you do not particularly like.
Enjoy the noise. It means your club is alive and kicking. I have seen a lot of clubs over the years that pushed the quiet button and were not very welcoming to kids because they were noisy. Those clubs had a short run and don’t exist any more.
I agree. We are an adult club and we are not quiet on club (non-tournament) evenings. Plenty of socializing and analysis goes on. Depending upon who shows up we are more chatty some nights than others. And then there’s bughouse, which tends to get rolling about 45 minutes before closing time.
Even with the noise, players do manage to get into long, serious games. They get into their zones, and it’s unrated, so it the noise doesn’t seem to be a problem. I find it easier to play on nights when there’s a steady buzz than on the very quiet nights when someone suddenly starts talking. It’s also easier to hang out and kibbutz on noisy evenings than on quiet ones. Sometimes that’s what new people seem to want–to just watch.
I have been an officer/volunteer in over 10 chess clubs. My impression is that for local events,
and especially for club non-tournament meetings, the quieter the room, the deader the club.
Now as quite often the clubs meet in libraries, keeping the noise to a dull roar is necessary.
Clubs that demand absolute quiet also tend to discourage beginners, particuarly kids from
playing.
So you have to decide what your goal is: prestine and funereal or at least a little noise.
I like the noise. When people are analyzing, kibbitzing, or just shooting the breeze while playing, talking and laughing, it means they are having fun and will be back!
Seriously. Save the monasticism for tournaments. Club meetings – at least our club meetings – are for learning. We learn by doing stuff, then talking about it.
It seems as if there is a general consensus that when clubs meet informally (my definition - not for tournament play) the members enjoy a noiser, livlier environment. But, it seems, many enjoy a quieter environment when the club is engaged in tournament play.
Unfortunately, the latter scenario is what I envisioned when I answered this question, because the two clubs that I meet with ONLY engage in weekly tournament play. We are, by no means, a quiet group when kibitzing before tournament play starts. It was my myopic view of chess clubs that colored my reply.
I listen to music while playing in part to provide “consistent” noise which my brain has learned to tune out - it was the inconsistent noise that most bothered me (squeaking chairs, slamming doors, talking, etc.).
Generally I feel that if I can hear the external noise over “When the Levee Breaks” on my headphones, then the room is too loud.
