In spite of the difficulties that the USCF is facing in gaining memberships, chess is continuing to grow rapidly in the United States. More and more educators and politicians are starting to realize the importance of chess, especially for young people. More and more schools are including chess as part of their curriculum or after school programs.
Everywhere I go, I meet people who play chess. A few weeks ago, I went to a local furniture store to get new beds for my boys and the salesperson recognized my name. He told me he plays chess all the time and he has played for more than 40 years.
When I was on the Chess Moves II cruise to Alaska last week, many crew members wanted a few quick games with our Chess Movers. They love to play chess.
A few days ago, I went to a local car dealership to trade my car for a new one. My salesperson happened to be a former student at Mott Hall in NY City back in the 90’s. He also recognized me from the time I used to teach there. My friend Maurice Ashley also taught there.
Yesterday, a representative from JetBlue airline in NY contacted me about borrowing some chess equipment to organize an internal chess tournament for the employees.
I have also met many people at the airports, hotels or even at grocery stores who play chess or have kids who play chess in schools. There are countless commercials, movies and TV shows that include chess scenes. It is an amazing phenomenon.
More and more cities around the world are using chess to boost tourism and their image. Chess is very popular with the militaries. Chess is very popular with many schools, colleges and universities.
Howard Stern and Don Imus both love chess. So are many other celebrities and athletes.
There is no better time than now to promote this game. We can all do our parts to help our own communities. Let’s get the words out about chess. Let’s show the world how wonderful this game is. Together, we can do it! We can bring chess to the forefront, especially for the benefits of our kids!
Greetings Susan-
The Sci-Tech Chess Club thinks you have a lot to do with the positive direction of Chess. Keep up the great work! I just E-mailed you about some cool Chess book marks.
Best…John Kunz
Sci-Tech Chess
johnt.kunz@yahoo.com
I agree that chess needs to be promoted, but seriously disagree with the ideas that what is necessary is celebrities and TV participation. Personally I would make sure that my kids never do anything Howard Stern likes. Trashy celebrities are not good advertisement.
I believe the interest in chess needs to be built using education, not glamor. Schools should be approached, clubs for children opened. I know that the Polgar Foundation has tournaments for the very best girls. What about the others? To become better one needs practice, opportunity to learn and to compete, and it’s inadequate for a lot of children, girls included. Time and patience are needed to develop a generation of chess players, while all efforts at the moment seem to concentrate on rewarding the outstanding few and on putting a glamorous spin on an intellectual activity.
In short, I wish Susan Polgar all the best in her efforts to promote chess. I also humbly ask her to think about how to reach regular kids, not only the very best. Maybe online classes? Traveling summer camp? (Chess USA does this and typically it gets sold out. Unfortunately, the level of chess instruction is not very good.) Online scholastic tournaments? Anything that will allow children who don’t have access to chess to acquire it.
Susan, do you feel that Chess popularity is skewed by the fact that generally the larger multi-cultural cities embrace it, but other communities don’t? For example if I were to travel to Detroit or NewYork I would think that Hockey is the greatest sport in the world. However if I were to go West or South I would think Hockey was a dieing pass time.
I live in in West Michigan and chess is virtual dead here. The one book store I could get chess books at even phased them out. The chess club has very few attendees, and the only tournament is a monthly 1 day swiss thanks to the efforts of Doug Forsythe.
Also, there seems to be such a lack of great American players in the upper ranks. Don’t get me wrong I totally respect the influx of foreign players who chose to play for America now, but I would also love to root for more Benjamins, Christiansens, Nakamuras, and
Finegolds in national and international play.
How do we get chess to grow outside of the few major multi-cultural cities it seems to succeed in? Also how do we get the amazingly talented youths to continue their love and participation in chess as they become adults?
Also I wonder how you can mention Howard Stern in the same story as promoting chess for kids. 😉
If laptop computers and wireless internet service were as common as cellphones, then “laptop leagues” could sprout.
Some big plusses that would become possible are:
[1] Internet players now outnumber OTB players, but they are not yet “of the body” (as Dr. McCoy once put it). Internet chess would be more appealing if it were formalized and made rate-able.
[2] Comradery (sp?), team feeling. We at Seattle Chess Club are always competing against each other. Being a team together would be a nice change occasionally. Women or girls might like that a lot. I would like us to challenge the Boston Chess Club.
[2b] Each typical team would need have one (or more) player from each class (Expert, A, B, C, D) in order for them to draw in the USCF membership at large.
[3] Chance to play rated games against a broader pool of people. This past Friday evening I played again a fellow I have already played perhaps 6-7 times.
[4] Much cheaper than flying to Chicago or even Las Vegas, just to play a few games of chess. Indeed, airfare + hotel can quickly add up to most of what an internet capable laptop would cost. The laptop would last a lot longer!
[4b] But again, need wireless internet.
Gene Milener
http://CastleLong.com/
Howard Stern should be the same sentence as Sam Sloan. There, it just happened.
This is a positively inspiring post, though I do agree with the others who are skeptical about making common cause with Howard Stern. (NB: I don’t think Susan’s post implied that we should.)
Out here in Chicago, despite some challenges, the scholastic chess community is beginning to pull together. At our school chess club we plan a “chess picnic” on Chicago’s lakefront chess pavilion to kick off the new school year. We’ll cast the net wide and invite chess people from all over the area and try to bring together chess folks who may not know one another but should. We’ll also have some fun.
As a whole the Chicago chess community is smaller and less cohesive than most of us would like it to be. We don’t have a major club like the Marshall or Boylston that could provide a focal point for activity. But we soldier on nevertheless.
I agree with Susan that now is a great time to promote chess, and while I can’t prove with data that it’s growing in popularity, it certainly seems to be. And hey, October 9 is National Chess Day! How’s that for an opportunity?