English chess is moribund

[Clive Wismayer]

Why is that? Run by weirdos, played in draughty churches & grotty community centres & not producing any decent players. The Olympiad team was ancient & uninspired as it has been for many years. Badly organised, offering poor facilities, no sponsorship. These are boom times for chess but no sign of anyone energetically promoting the game. A falling out among the over 50s counts as big news.

Ever a parlour game for nerds.

Discuss

[Nick Ivell]

Who says these are boom times for chess?

A lot of people may be playing - doesn't mean they are playing well.

[Clive Wismayer]

Chess has exploded on the internet. Streamers make serious money, just for one example. England is a backwater, as your post makes clear.

[Joey Stewart]

Streamers aren't exactly passing on any of their "boom" money - any financial goodwill shown by their fans is syphoned off directly into their greedy little bank accounts never to be seen by the chess community (or the tax man) ever again so they are little more then leeches gorging themselves on a sport they don't have the talent to actually play seriously.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Who says these are boom times for chess?

A lot of people may be playing - doesn't mean they are playing well.

Yes, but more people playing is *something*.

We were all familiar with the number of chess clubs - and leagues - being in steady long term decline before the last few years.

And arguably one reason why the 1980s "golden age" of British chess faded is that not enough attention was paid to "ordinary" players.

[Roger de Coverly]

Badly organised, offering poor facilities, no sponsorship.

There's substantial financial support at the moment, Rachel Reeves permitting, from the DCMS. Also the Malcolm Pein extravaganza at the Emirates must have considerable sponsorship.
https://www.londonchessclassic.com/

There's also the Isle of Wight tournament in February.
https://www.iowchess.com/tournament2025iow

[Clive Wismayer]

The London Chess Classic features a weak line up, including a couple of ancient Britons. I haven’t looked at the Isle of Man but expect I’d find the same. Where are the world’s elite & why does it feature no English players? Howell is the highest rated English player in the FIDE rating list at no. 53 & he hardly represents the future.

Since the Fischer boom of the 70s & 80s England has reverted to backwater status. Unseemly squabbles about board order in the over-50s team, with ancient players & administrators to the fore, sum things up nicely.

[Clive Wismayer]

I’ve looked at the Isle of Man line up now. A 9 round Swiss featuring no one over 2600 & a lot of very familiar names. I’m surprised you highlighted this weak, unimportant contest to which no one outside England’s bubble will pay the slightest attention.

[LawrenceCooper]

Streamers aren't exactly passing on any of their "boom" money - any financial goodwill shown by their fans is syphoned off directly into their greedy little bank accounts never to be seen by the chess community (or the tax man) ever again so they are little more then leeches gorging themselves on a sport they don't have the talent to actually play seriously.

The alternative view is that streamers have to make a living like anyone else and the amounts the majority make aren't life changing for them, let alone enough to fill financial gaps elsewhere in the chess world.

[Tim Spanton]

I’ve looked at the Isle of Man line up now. A 9 round Swiss featuring no one over 2600 & a lot of very familiar names. I’m surprised you highlighted this weak, unimportant contest to which no one outside England’s bubble will pay the slightest attention.

It would seem you did not look at the Isle of Wight very closely.

[MJMcCready]

Why is that? Run by weirdos, played in draughty churches & grotty community centres & not producing any decent players. The Olympiad team was ancient & uninspired as it has been for many years. Badly organised, offering poor facilities, no sponsorship. These are boom times for chess but no sign of anyone energetically promoting the game. A falling out among the over 50s counts as big news.

Ever a parlour game for nerds.

Discuss

And you actually believe all that do you?

[Roger Lancaster]

Why is that? Run by weirdos, played in draughty churches & grotty community centres & not producing any decent players. The Olympiad team was ancient & uninspired as it has been for many years. Badly organised, offering poor facilities, no sponsorship. These are boom times for chess but no sign of anyone energetically promoting the game. A falling out among the over 50s counts as big news.

Ever a parlour game for nerds.

Discuss

Well, since there's an invitation to discuss, my short contribution is that this is a very jaundiced view. I don't feel it merits longer comment.-*

[Clive Wismayer]

And there we have it. Criticism is ‘jaundiced’. Everything is just fine. We don’t need no stinking outsiders telling us our chess culture is crap. And yet, it is, like it or not.

[Clive Wismayer]

I’ve looked at the Isle of Man line up now. A 9 round Swiss featuring no one over 2600 & a lot of very familiar names. I’m surprised you highlighted this weak, unimportant contest to which no one outside England’s bubble will pay the slightest attention.

It would seem you did not look at the Isle of Wight very closely.

What did I miss? Of course it might just be a lousy web-site which, again, would be typical, but all I see is a 9 round Swiss with a 2539 top-rated player.

[LawrenceCooper]

And there we have it. Criticism is ‘jaundiced’. Everything is just fine. We don’t need no stinking outsiders telling us our chess culture is crap. And yet, it is, like it or not.

Perhaps you could educate us all on what should be done.