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| Posted by bucklehead play-online-chess.com 4/28/2005 15:38:45 Play online chess |  Subject: Looking to Commit Some HeresyMessage: It's a scary prospect, since 1) I've never done such a thing and 2) I really don't like dealing with people. (You may think this is contrary to my impulse for OTB chess, but to me these are completely separate.) I seem to recall that, when I was a kid, there was a USCF-affiliated club in town with perhaps 15-20 people, and that's the sort of thing I'd hope to recreate. And so I come before you, gentle chessplayers, in search of some advice. Has anyone done this in their town? How did you gauge interest, and how did you eventually get the word out? In your experience, are people willing to pay some nominal membership fee to defray costs of equipment/USCF dues/etc.? Any advice/stories/warnings you could offer would be most helpful--especially if there's a "don't waste your time" point I haven't thought of. And of course, if you're a GK player in SW Connecticut, USA, who would be interested in such a thing, don't hesitate to send me a message. I'm just tired of feeling like a violinist (ha! more of a kazoo player) whose string quartet (i.e., kazoo band) meets over the phone. | ||||||||||||
| Posted by wschmidt play-online-chess.com 4/28/2005 15:57:08 Play online chess | I haven't done it, but... Message: | ||||||||||||
| Posted by roland_l play-online-chess.com 4/28/2005 18:59:10 Play online chess | Should have read your post first ... Message: I've done some traveling and while traveling I always tried to find a chess club to go get some games and meet people. The hardest thing is that most folks that start little clubs don't do much in the way of advertising, and then you can't ever find them! Do some internet/yellow page research for your area. Are there any other clubs you can find? If not, what kind of population do you have in your area? If you have over 25k population, and there are no other clubs, my guess is you could build a good sized club pretty quickly over the course of a few months by putting up some posters at the schools/grocery markets, etc. Also, try to get on some interent chess club directories ... especially the USCF one. People love chess, and if they know you are there, they will come. You would just need to try to overcome your "really don't like dealing with people" issues. (:-P) An organiser needs to do that. In Bangor, Maine (population about 30k) one gentleman approached the folks at the Barnes and Nobles book store. There was a coffee shop section with maybe 15 little tables or so. He asked if one-night-a-week they could meet there, and the B & N folks agreed. On any given Wednesday, we would have anywhere from 4 to 16 people show up. This with very little advertising. In my SMALL hometown of 4000, one fellow had a little club in his house, and we had about 5-6 come. I would start small like this and then decide if you think you can 'take it to the next level' ... ie paid membership, tournies with prizes, training, equiptment and book sales etc. etc. I think if there's going to be money involved, you really need to offer something special. ——— Chess: Watch out – it's a pawn storm — Why stop at a Four Pawns Attack when you can enlist five, or six? RB: Recently I've had very little time for chess. If you don't play, your game suffers. This sad and simple fact was brought home to me when I started losing badly to my sparring partner of 30 years Vince, despite Vince having had triple bypass surgery and being doped up on all kinds of pain-killing medication. Deadlines met, for the most part, I decided to do a little studying. Against 1 e4 Vince often plays the Sicilian Dragon. One of White's typical strategies against the Dragon is to hurl the kingside pawns against the enemy king. This got me thinking about pawn storms in general and then I remembered the stunning chess game ... Posted by schnarre | play-online-chess.com 4/28/2005 20:26:35 Play online chess Exposure matters!Message: ——— Chess: Nakamura and Robson Show Off Their Promise — Two recent exhibition matches in St. Louis could help pave the way for an American to have a shot at the world title after the next chess championship match in 2012. One pitted Hikaru Nakamura of the United States against Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, the other was a face-off between Ray Robson and Ben Finegold, both Americans. The contests were intended to give Nakamura, 23, and Robson, 16, valuable experience. (Robson was supposed to play Viktor Korchnoi, the octogenarian grandmaster. But Korchnoi dropped out at the last minute, and Finegold, 41, who lives in St. Louis, replaced him.) The chess matches were six slow games followed by four rapid games. Robson was ... Posted by nottop | play-online-chess.com 4/29/2005 15:56:34 Play online chess clubMessage: The younger players preferred blitz play and the older plays a more relaxed time control. But everyone could play. We drew over 30 people for the first meeting - (publicity for this sort of event is easy to come by - and free). We even had some matches against some nearby towns. It went very well - and it wasn't so much work. It went very well for several years - but when I could no longer run the club, for some reason it fell apart. It's not that hard to do and a tremendous satisfaction. But you won't want to run things forever - the mistake I made was in not finding people who would keep the continuity. That is very important - you won't want to do this forever. Even though the club eventually died, many people took up the game have continued to the present. It is also likely that somewhere burried nearby is a master who will give lectures and lessons - it's amazing what people will do for free. You can do this - and good luck. ——— On Chess: Royal game is outlet for confined minds — As a teenager, I found something special in chess. Unlike with school, little had to be memorized. Instead, I was presented with a never-ending frontier in which I could discover new ideas and moves in response to the exigencies of chess combat. There are so many paths to take in a typical chess position that one might play a lifetime of games, each different from the other. Every game was an adventure in which I could prevail if I were clever and brave enough. One could make mistakes, but the embarrassment of losing seemed small compared with the excitement of engagement and the windfall of discovery. The chess experience contrasts with formal education, which, regrettably, is often ... Posted by ccmcacollister | play-online-chess.com 4/29/2005 21:06:53 Play online chess Hi bucklehead ... Message: We got a lot of publicity once holding a match between corporate clubs and it was an entire section of the Omaha World Herald, tho that was not necessarily the intent of the event. Anyway, advertising something in company newsletters helps. Or finding someone in them to have a company tournament or club . Being a USCF affiliate is always an idea. And member of your state assoc. To see what is going on areound you... Just some thoughts As an affiliate or director for an existing one you could advertise a tournament for free Chess Life (i think it may still be free?!) and then include a plug for your club activity in the announcement by holding a club activity on that day too... ——— Simon Williams provides moment to savour with brilliant 20-mover — England's top chess trio Michael Adams, Nigel Short and Luke McShane have all beaten 2700-rated elite grandmasters, the world top 30-40, twice or more in the same chess event. But for other English chess players, a single win against a 2700 is a mountain to climb. So it was a rare moment to savour last weekend at the French teams in Mulhouse for Simon Williams, 31, the England No14, who defeated two 2700s in three days. Even better, one game was a 20-move sacrificial brilliancy and both were impressive practical lessons. Williams's elegant 20-mover against Poland's European silver medallist showed the value of a specialist opening. The Surrey GM has written a book and ... Posted by alice02 | play-online-chess.com 5/01/2005 05:04:50 Play online chess in the meantime you could try SkypeMessage: -> www.skype.com I always recommend people research a programme before they install it. So far I have only used Skype to call interstate - and it doesnt cost anything. So you can chat to your co-player ( a term suggested by ccomcallister - now I have spelt it wrongly) while you play chess. I know it is still phone contact, but it is a human voice rather than a virtual move.:) ——— Chess: Back to basics — Chess has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, and one of the reasons the game has maintained its popularity for so long is the seemingly endless level of depth and complexity involved. It seems no matter how much you play, there is always something else to learn or a new puzzle to challenge your brain. So how does one improve at the grand old game of chess? Have you been playing for years, decades, scores, and yet you still seem to be losing to the same people? One of the questions I am often asked at chess competitions is, "How come Grandmaster so-and-so is better than you? How can you achieve his level?" My answer is always, "If I knew, I would ... Posted by nwalthall | play-online-chess.com 5/02/2005 13:25:52 Play online chess starting a chess clubMessage: For a small fee, you can purchase a mailing list from the United States Chess Federation, with names and addresses, by zip code. This will provide you with the names and addresses of active USCF members in your area; you can contact them by sending out a flier. My experience has been that this works beautifully. It hooks you up with more or less active players. You can find out more at the USCF website, www.ushess.org. The above is important because it is hard to start a club with folks completely new to chess. It can be done, but you are more likely to be successful with a mixture of players with varying expertise and experience When I started the club in Princeton, I spent four months trying to find people who were interested--not knowing about the USCF mailing list. I located exactly 3. When I sent out a flier using the list, I had 30-40 interested players on my list within a week of dropping the mailing off at the post office. :-) From there, it was easy. The hard part is not finding the players, provided there are some in your region. By far the most difficult part of getting my club going was finding the space. I don't know what it is like in CT, but I have to tell you, in NJ, public meeting space is at an absolute premium and was very hard to get hold of, particularly if you want to play USCF rated games at more or less normal time controls, which means you may need the space until 11 pm or so. Starting and running a club was actually quite fun, but it can be a fair amount of work and can wear you out and down over time. So one important thing to do, if you manage to get the thing launched, is set up some simple governance and recruit some fellow organizers who will share the work of keeping the club afloat. If you can find these folks, make sure the onerous tasks get split more or less evenly. Then you won't necessarily feel overwhelmed, and there will be nights where you can enjoy your club as a "member", rather than an organizer. By the way, I could not agree with you more. There is no substitute for the fun of OTB (Over the Board) play. Best of Luck, Ned Walthall Posted by bucklehead | play-online-chess.com 5/05/2005 14:31:27 Play online chess Thanks one and all...Message: The USCF list idea is spectacular, and pretty much just what I needed. I'm most concerned about is getting the word out to active, adult players (I have no objection to teaching or working with kids, but it's enough work trying to keep my five-year-old from playing openings such as 1 h4 e5 2 Rh3)--I don't think I'd mind laying out a modest amount for supplies if I knew there was going to be interest and regular attendance, but I'd hate to be stuck with a dozen plastic sets and have no one show up. If there are 100 USCF members in my 50k town (a wild exaggeration, probably!), though, I can get mailing labels for the for just $25 and not be very much out of pocket. Again, thank you all for your input, and if you have any more suggestions, I'm excited to hear them! |