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Now as I am trying to promote social chess in Colchester this looked worth investigating BUT when you look at a map you get:
and if you click on a dot you find a 'group' with a chess.com organiser and an apparently random set of members presumably lured in by earlier advertising. No events - even in London.
The apply today button promises free stuff in return for what I am already doing in Colchester
Thank you for your interest in leading a local Chess.com's Global Chess Community group on Meetup!
As an organizer you will receive free subscriptions to the following sites, as long as you are actively organizing a minimum of one event every two months:
Chessable
Chess.com
Local leaders are expected to run regular events with their members.
Once you've completed your application, we'll get back to you within 5 business days with more information and next steps.
Cheers!
Chess.com's Global Chess Community Team
So I am not impressed - two reasons - (1) I am not using meetup because while it may be effective, it costs over £100 pa to set up a regular meetup and I want what I am doing to be replicable at minimum cost in places other than Colchester (2) Chess.com is doing a top-down lazy approach just throwing money (or at least foregone revenue) at it. Now I like Chess.com, but I also like Lichess and other online communities; I like otb even more and I can see enthusiasts who might set up meetups getting seduced by this initiative rather than doing their own thing. Perhaps that doesn't matter if more social chess is organised, but the evidence so far is that there is nothing to show for this in the UK?
Comments please? (especially good experiences to counter my negativity!)
