Who (which companies) are some of the greatest / biggest chess sponsors / supporters in history and in recent years?
Some of the obvious company names are: IBM, Intel, Excalibur, Deutsche Sparkassen, DSB, Grenke Leasing AG , etc.
Some of the obvious individuals are: Joop VanOosterom, Dato Tan Chin Nam, etc.
However, in recent years, there are many new sponsors such as HB Foundation (out of business now), Jorge S. / AKRO, etc.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Deutsche Sparkassen (e.g. Dortmund and Mainz – I’m sure Peter Leko could tell you more about it), Grenke Leasing AG (Duesseldorf), ChessBase (Hamburg) and so on and so on …
apart from history – is there any reason not to mention german companies, german sponsors, the DSB (Deutscher Schachbund – we have more ACTIVE playing members than U.S. and russia together …), german chess players, german chess?
please tell me – and i’ll get out and keep my mouth … (or mark this blog – OFF LIMITS FOR NON U.S.)
by the way – please – don’t forget the germans, the french, the spaniards, the british, the dens, the hungarians, the greeks, – with one word – the other EUROPEANS, if you mention the dutch …(Joop etc. ^^ :-))
sincerly, your Vohaul
Vohaul: I don’t think anyone who visits Ms. Polgar’s blog would discount the numerous sponsors and interest of chess in other countries. Don’t you think we Americans wish we had the kind of sponsorship, opportunities, and events that exist in Europe? Of course we do! Obviously I cannot speak for Ms. Polgar, but as she lives in the US and is trying to promote the game here, I think it is natural for her to allude to American sponsors and the need we have to popularize chess here. I doubt any offense was intended.
American Foundation for Chess from Seattle.
Corus Steel do a great job in their sponsorship of Wijk am Zee tournament.
Always a great tournament to visit, with excellent facilities and nice people.
I’m interested in the Susan Polgar Foundation. I think I read on this website that you would have donated $60,000 to the olympiad team if they had proper preparation and training. How does the foundation make that much money?
classplayer, one of my friends, a supporter of my foundation was ready to sponsor the team. I was told by Ms. Marinello that a deal was signed with the Kasparov Chess Foundation in the middle of 2004. My sponsor promptly withdrew the offer.
This was an illegal and unethical signing because the USCF already had a contract with the SPF until the end of 2004. Ms. Marinello had no business making any deal with any other organization while a legal contract was in existence.
Her response was sue us (USCF). For the sake of the US Chess, my foundation decided not to. She later apologized but then she behave in similar fashion a few short months later.
I will never deal with Ms. Marinello again. I also cannot ever trust her again.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Susan I have a novel idea for you to ponder. Bill Gates is very much into educational charities. I wonder if you approached him if Mr. Gates would donate a nice sum of money for American chess namely the failing USCF and/or your scholastic fund.
TFK
Don’t know how to get in touch with him. I would love to sit down and discuss various issues.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
I hear that Microsoft is a sponsor for Magnus Carlsen. If true, it is a shame that an American corporation is not also supporting up and coming American talents such as Nakamura.
What are the best things to sponsor? Events? Which ones? I truly think there are many opportunities for healthy sponsorship. The visibility of the event would need to be good.
Anyone have any thoughts on what are truly the best events in the US for sponsorship?
I would think scholastics would be good because that would show the sponsoring company as supportive of kids and learning.
Microsoft does sponsor Magnus Carlsen (a child GM from one of the Nordic countries).
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1447
“Traveling around to chess tournaments in different countries is not at all cheap, and it would not have been possible without financial aid. Luckily he has now found a sponsor (Microsoft)”
As for how to get in touch with the big boss, I don’t know, but if you have no connections whatsoever, you can start here:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm
and
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ForGrantSeekers/
Mr. Gates is actually quite a brilliant person and I’d consider myself lucky if I was able to discuss various things with him. He gets a bad rap because of all the microsoft haters out there. Whether or not people like the products his company makes doesn’t take away from his genius.
I always thought Bill Gates was a good person because he’s donated half his worth to charitable causes but right now he is slamming the $100 lab-top project (sponsored by Google and MIT) for kids in developing countries and is promoting his expensive ($600-$1000) new computer instead.
I really need a sponsor u can get me at chessa nyathi m musa
I’m interested in joining the susan polgar foundation and I still need a sponser I also want her private contact number mine are 0834495088