The next move

2 comments

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  Andorrano says:

  November 26, 2006 at 8:21 pm

  Don´t ask me why.But it looks like a very sad title for this photo

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  gabor says:

  November 26, 2006 at 11:45 pm

  Susan wrote:

  Pondering the next move … in life and in my sport

  This sounded very honest.
  I will have the nerve to speak up, despite it is obviously none of my business.

  You mentioned about getting into the political side of chess. Yet, I think what you are doing now is far more valuable. Chess lost a significant portion of its popularity. The reasons are more than one. Back in the old days the number of activity people could do was limited. Today, we have computers, internet, computer games, internet-computer games and many more. Kids can occupy their free time in far more ways than they used to. Thus, learning how to play chess became just one of many possible activities. That not only decreased the popularity of chess, but will continue to decrease it. Once a person passes the teen years and didn’t learn chess, it is very unlikely that the person will.

  The way chess is messed up on higher levels (FIDE, etc.) maybe far less significant than it seems. In order to bring back chess as part of (m)any person’s culture (so to speak) requires a very significant person with the type of enthusiasm Susan has. She is a world champion. How many people can tell about him/herself that “I am a world champion”. In anything. Very very few, but she can. If she continues along this line (popularizing chess among ordinary people), if any person on this planet, she has a chance. If she gets into FIDE or USCF, she may change some things, maybe for the better, but in the meanwhile chess itself will continue “dying”.

  Therefore, if I would have a vote (I know I don’t), I would vote that she should continue to popularize chess.
  No point to fix FIDE or USCF, if less and less people learn and play chess.

  Gabor
  Ps: I hope she will look back and read this