One of the members of the www.ChessDiscussion.com forum just raised an interesting point.
With a national recession (United States) almost being a given in 2008, and with the unstable scholastic market maintaining its membership base with renewals during times of economic growth. It does raise questions about the scholastic attendance at tournaments. Will it be affected with a recession? Will the same happen with adult tournaments?
What do you think?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
There are a few possibilities. Those chess players that are working less hours or are laid off will play more chess because they have more spare time, unless of course the EF is cost prohibitive.
But the allure of a cash prize may still draw them in. Those in a financial hardship will stay away from the big EF tournaments and opt for local clubs and friendly games.
I think the two will balance each other out and things will stay about the same. Youth chess is on the increase and that should continue. Just my opinion.
Youth chess will probably stay stable or increase a small amount. If you talk with parents who are active in their children’s lives, you’ll see a lot more “organized” time – kids are going to lessons, sports practice or some other activity after school. Just letting them hang out at home or in the neighborhood just isn’t as common as it once was. Chess is an important non-sports, non-music alterative which is both cheap (relative to other types of activity) educational (teaching positive lessons about planning and concentration) and can be adopted by all sorts of kids (athletic or otherwise).
Adult chess is another matter…
I remember in Reti’s “Master of the Chessboard” a mention of how poverty-stricken Rubenstein was, and how chess was an important recreational and creative outlet for very poor people since all you needed was a chess set and board, which you could even make yourself.
It is unfortunate that the USCF and CCA have somehow equated chess with poker, and turned it into a rich person’s hobby.
Parents want their kids to be rich, so they encourage sports, hoping for the next Wayne Gretsky or some such.
They miss the point.
They should be encouraging their kids to play chess, which, in turn, makes them better students, which, in turn, will make them better people.
That is why the whole poker mentality in chess is misguided. Poker on T.V. is not how it is in a casino. You see about 1/10th the hands on T.V. The rest are dead draws and junk.
They are selling the sizzle, and you are buying it.