Many people have asked me why do I have this blog because it is very time consuming and it does not directly bring monetary benefits.
There are a number of reasons:
– I am not happy with the coverage of chess in America and around the world. It has always been low on the list of priorities. Now, chess players can control our own fates. We can get our own news out.
– Too many media sources only cover dirt instead of positive, inspirational, heart warming and exciting stories. There are plenty of great chess stories that do not involve scandals. It is time we take charge of our own sport and promote our sport our way.
– A lot of questionable chess politicians do bad things to chess behind the scene and they hide their own misdeeds by controlling the media. I love chess and this is my passion. I am not going to sit back and allow some of these people to continue holding our sport back. They can no longer censor the truth.
– I would also like to give the chess fans a voice. If they like something, they can speak up. If they do not like something, they can also speak out. Without the chess fans, professional players may as well play chess in their living rooms.
– Closing the gap between professional chess players and the chess fans. I am sad that many of colleagues take their fans for granted. If the chess professionals do not care about their fans then why should the fans care about the professionals?
– I dislike some of the ways how chess is being taught. Too many people are teaching for money and not care about the end results. This blog can help change that.
– Women’s chess is a topic that has been under the radar for the longest time. This blog will change that. Same goes with scholastic chess. It is up to the chess professionals to lead the next generations the right way.
Yes, this blog takes a lot of my time. Between my chess promoting schedule, chess training, writing books, columns, taking care of my kids full time, running my chess center and hundreds of other things, time is what I need most 🙂 But I hope that it will help chess in the long run. Thank you for being a part of it.
Thanks for all that you do!
Go on, Susan, you make a good job with your blog.
Thanks and greetings from Germany!
I admire your dedication and thank you for all the work you do.
Greets from Canada…
Bravo Susan
Your blog is great and also shows that chess players are not anoraks – you have widely varying interests and passions (though I can see that chess remains Queen amongst them). Keep up your excellent blog.
Phil (UK)
It’s a very noble deed indeed
well I think you have already made a super positive impact on chess in America and the world. Keep up the great work. we all need you.
Media chess coverage has been lacking for a long time. It’s important to fight public indifference like your blogs do, in a worthwhile, fun way.
You’re building on your accomplishments and using them to help people and strengthen education, and that makes you a hero.
I enjoy reading your site everyday. It has become one of my main “check-multiple-times-a-day” chess sites.
Your contributions to chess are great and I hope you can make a difference in how chess fits into the lives of Americans.
thank you for your work!
“If they do not like something, they can also speak out.”
I hate losing at chess!
Thank you for letting me say so.
Any ideas or opinions why America doesnt respect chess?
Aloha Susan, well stated! Chessplayers such as yourself are making a big difference! Imagine how much more chess would be in the news if “everyone” did just a fraction of what you and other well known chessplayers have done so far!
Today I’m meeting some young players some who may never have played chess and others who just want to get better at playing chess. At a free summer chess class at a local district park. As part of the summer parks program. I asked the manager why they did not teach chess and they stated no one knows how to play well enough to teach!
So lets see how many knowledgeable chessplayers that play can go out and meet the the demand for teaching chess to out young people! Instead of just playing sports and crafts, we’ll see them playing chess as well! The lack of understanding the game makes people dislike it! I think!
I like saying to our stronger players to eneure you understand the game, try teaching someone new and see if you can teach them. Not only are you doing a good thing, your also just added a new player you can play in the future and made a new friend! Mahalo for all you do!!
Susan wrote:
“- I am not happy with the coverage of chess in America and around the world. It has always been low on the list of priorities.”
I love chess, but until we produce chess in a media friendly way, the USA media is right to ignore chess.
Chess must earn a place on TV (like on ESPN), and then chess must stay on TV. The programs cannot be shown live, and they must be highly edited (like the long running chess TV show on the BCC was).
Hold a tournament outdoors, maybe in New York’s Central Park: that is a setting that an NBC video cameraman can make enticing to the producer of the evening news.
And start by emphasizing competitions among the best female players in the country/world. They have a much better chance of appealing to the audience and of becoming celebrities, just by being themselves.
Have tournaments that *build* toward something larger.
Today’s Baseball game between the NY Mets v. Atlanta Braves builds toward something important — the September playoffs.
Reduce the hated draw problem simply by extending the life of every draw offer by an additional move-pair (then players will not offer draws in positions that still have life, would be too risky).
Generate controversy and media interest by having some games be chess960.
Gene Milener
http://CastleLong.com/
Kudo’s and many thanks for your entertaining blog Susan!
Gregory
A great job you have here, Susan, that needs more than just admiration but adulation. Bravo!
Greetings from the Philippines.
Susan: I think you are doing a great job to promote chess in general and women’s chess in particular.
“It’s a very noble deed indeed”
Ditto that. Thanks!
Susan, you seriously have one of the most dedicated and readable blogs on chess out there. I am such a chess noob it is pathetic, but I don’t feel like an outsider when I view your blog.
I hope that someday you are able to move beyond blogger and can help found an internet community around chess and the approachable nature of your online personality.
Susan, great great comments and agree with you 100% and we all love the work you are doing for chess not only in US but in all of the world.
V. Trukov from Puerto Rico.
Susan, thanks for your blog and thanks for caring about your chess fans.
cheers indeed susan, cheers indeed.
Salutations from California. It is an honour to be part of your blog. I have grown to know you better and besides being World Champion and Olympiad Champion you have shown me you are also a human people champion. I will treasure playing you Thursday in Las Vegas on your simul. Thank you for all you are doing for chess. I will be eternally grateful. You are the greatest.
greetings and kisses from germany!
your blog, Susan, managed it to be my FAVOURITE chess site in the web – at large, great people here – from all around the world!, at large, nice to operate puzzles (besides these “endgame” ones … ^^)and nobody needs to mince matters. GREAT JOB!
(maybe i’ll be fortunate enough to meet you at Womens Chess Cup in Dresden – at least to get my signed version of your recently published tactics book…^^)
your’s Vohaul (a chess fan!)
your’s Vohaul
susan,
10 years ago i came to this country with a vision (like so many immigrants) – to succeed by building my own high tech business. After getting my masters degree and numerous startups, I can’t say I fully achhieved what I set out to do. I am still at it.
But I can truly appreciate someone like you who came to this country (in 1989 I believe I read) and is still pursuing that vision.
It was a few years ago that a friend of mine from church got me nterested in chess. The thing that got me
interested was how I could work with computers to help me improve. I was already using computers so it
was a natural transition.
I attended the HB global (one of my first tournaments). I was truly amazed by the class with which it was run. It was good to see people well dressed of every race, age, gender and walk of life coming together for a common purpose.
It was disappointing to see the HB collapse. I truly believed that if someone kept promoting chess (I mean a classy version of the game with dress codes etc.) with a much faster time control – about 90 minutes per game it will catch on in a short time.
The reason I believe this has to do with the amazing changes that computers and the Internet are bringing to this world. Consider the world cup. In 2002,I had to pay for each game. There was not a single mention of soccer on any web site.
Today the world cup is on Yahoo!, Google and free on ESPN. It is the effect of computers and the Internet. It is the effect of globalization.
I believe the same thing will happen with chess. Today it is so easy for anyone with access to computers to
figure out where they went wrong. The cost is reasonable to hire an IM from Ukraine on ICC. I do it myself.
In the past it was probably hard to get better because of the lack of GM’s or strong players This explains why russians are so good at it. Every third citizen is a strong chess player.
I believe that we are very close to chess taking off in a big way in the USA. I wish there were some influential figure like Maurice Ashley or you promoting a faster game – 90 minutes per game with great prizes. I think Americans are ready for it.
I don’t believe chess needs to be on ESPN. The internet is a great resource for viewing games and most people use it at work.
Today most Americans (business) play golf for relaxation. But I bet that there are millions of intellectually oriented individuals (like me) that wouldn’t mind taking up an intellectual past time instead.
Don’t believe me! Consider Starbucks. When they first started their vision was to have a little sho that served coffee to people just like in Italy. Nobody believed it would happend.
But Starbucks proved them wrong. In the end people are very similar. If Italians enjoyed their coffee shops
so could the Americans. It just took someone like Howard Shultz to point them in that directions.
When you look back at the history of American Football. It took them a long time before football finally
caught on. So it is with chess. I think Maurice Ashley would have succeeded if he kept at it.
You are still at it and I can appreciate the challenges of sticking with a vision. Keep it Up! Most people give up.
Hope my words are encouraging. Sorry for the long blog! Yes! like everyone said, we appreciate YOU and thanks for the chance to have our voice heard.
Regards.
“But I can truly appreciate someone like you who came to this country (in 1989 I believe I read) and is still pursuing that vision.”
Chess players usually know nothing else to do well, except play chess. Same goes for architects and politicians.
I can see though that Susan is just a trying-hard earning a living through a very little known game such as chess.
However with the advent of computers, this “sport” is slowly dying and is just being relegated to just a hobby game!
Better be kind and nice than be “right.”
Domo arigato!