I live in Gulfport MS and there are no chess clubs within an hour drive of me. The Gulfport/Biloxi coast area has a large population and I can’t believe that there aren’t other chess players here who would like to get together for an occasional OTB game or two.
I would like to try to organize such a club, but I can’t find a way to efficiently contact other players. Is there a way to create a mailing list from the US Chess database for players within a certain area or radius of my location? Even a listing by state would help but that might be more than I can deal with.
After reading some of the messages here, I thought that if I created an affiliate membership that I could access this type of data, but I can’t find a way to do it from my affiliate page.
There appear to be around 53 current members living within about 50 miles of Gulfport and another 75 who have been members since 2019 but have had their membership lapse.
You can purchase mailing labels or do an email blast but neither method will reach all members in the area, either because they’ve opted out of third party lists or because we have no email address for them.
I’m not sure of the current process for ordering lists, contact membership@uschess.org to get started.
Holding a simul at a local mall is often a good way to gain publicity, the mall can help publicize the event and the media is often willing to run a story on the event. Is Jude Acers still living in the New Orleans area? Maybe you could have him come out and give the simul and a lecture?
Thanks, Douglas! I dont do Facebook much anymore, but I did find this thanks to your direction! I’ll have to check it out. I’ve messaged them but haven’t heard back yet.
I run the Gulfport Chess Club, get in touch! We have 10 to 20 people at club evey week and there are many tournaments within 2 hours with the next one being Sep 9th here on the Coast.