English Chess Forum

In the course of our club AGM last night we discussed the issue of publicity, and the design of the posters and notices which are put up locally to advertise our club. It was suggested that these are a bit dull, and I rather agree that a single chess piece and relevant text don't present an eye-catching visual image. Time therefore for a make-over. Is anyone out there able to share examples of what they consider to be good practice in this area?

We also discussed the challenge of making a chess club a sociable place. However, too often clubs are in relatively small venues where the demands of league chess for library conditions, conflict with creating the sense of a busy welcoming activity.

Notices and posters lack the interactive possibilities of the web, but you can still make an impact with some interesting graphics. You're not limited to an image of a single chess piece. For example, the iStockphoto website http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php has lots of high-quality photos of unknown people playing chess or at least gazing moodily at the board. These are royalty-free and cost very little. I inserted pictures from this site on the front page of the Athenaeum Chess Club website http://www.athenaeumchessclub.com/, when I was responsible for their website.

Or you can take your camera out into the world and record chess scenes. The current London chess event in Trafalgar Square (ends tomorrow) must present some wonderful photo opportunities. You should also be able to photograph famous players at big chess tournaments (subject to local rules on the use of cameras). There's a very strong event in London in December.

As for making a chess club a sociable place, I agree that the venue can impose limitations. My own club (Home Office & Justice) operates from a large conference room in a government building. We hold social chess events about three times a year. Club members enjoy it but we're not well-placed to pull people in from the streets.

If you have operate from a quiet place such as a library, you probably have to go out to celebrate. Have you thought of taking some chess equipment to a friendly pub for the evening? You're bound to attract attention and maybe even some interest. Or go there after matches - social post-mortems in a nearby pub are common in the league that I play in.

something from here might catch people's eye

http://www.kosteniuk.com/albums/covergi ... l9-05.html

I haven't got the time this morning to offer a detailed response ( I will when I get back from London), but great to see someone enthusiastic about promoting chess

J T Melsom wrote:We also discussed the challenge of making a chess club a sociable place.

The trouble is (IMHO of course) that the needs of a chess club - quiet - are completely opposite to the needs of a 'sociable place' - lots of chat.

There are some venues I won't at anymore because they allow noisy social blitz chess to be played on tables right next to league matches. Fine if that's what you want - and it is obviously want they want - but I don't like it so I don't go anymore.

I suspect what you need is a venue with at least two separate areas. One quiet room for league chess and another room for chat and casual play - preferably with a bar.

... but then as you say most venues are small and the above is just not possible in the real world.

Bottom line is that serious chess is just not a very social activity. We spend hours sitting at tables not talking to each other. (afterwards is a different matter of course).

Jonathan, have you ever been to Drunken Knights in central London? They have both the serious matchplay in a booked room and social area next to the bar where you can play blitz.

Justin Hadi wrote:Jonathan, have you ever been to Drunken Knights in central London? They have both the serious matchplay in a booked room and social area next to the bar where you can play blitz.

I have indeed been to that venue Justin. The exception rather than the rule I would say (but a welcome one nevertheless)

Well no, there are several clubs in London with similar arrangements. Off the top of my head I can think of Ealing, Hackney, King's Head, the Harrison Club, Dulwich and Drunken Knights. And there are similar clubs in other counties also.

When I played for a short while in Leicestershire, alot of club venues were at Social Clubs and Working Mens Clubs. They provided exactly that mix of social and serious play desribed earlier.

On the other hand, I find in London that alot of clubs aren't based at such venues.

So the different experiences can probably be accounted for by the differences between urban and rural settings.

I wonder if there are any missed opportunities ? There may be social clubs in London that would appeciate some extra members and revenue ?

Yes I agree, there are definitely opportunities both in pubs and working men's clubs. Some clubs get function rooms for free, on the basis that players provide good business to the bar. The only problem is with a change of landlord the club may find itself without a venue for a while, but with some research it should be possible to find a replacement venue.

On a sidenote, I forgot about university clubs in my last post, which are usually quite social and held in college unions.

Thanks for responses so far - a good example of how we can share best practice on this forum.

We do indeed have a bar area, and will consider moving some of the chess into that room, hopefully without disrupting the regular users. I'd like to do more social chess in the main room ( a monthly bring a friend evening might be nice) but sadly fixture lists are a bit crowded.

I've also taken chess sets into pubs. The response is quite interesting, ranging from the 'oh no - a geeky nerdy type playing chess' to polite interest and asking for a game. Hard to see how we tap into this underbelly of players and understanding, and formalise it. [ However watch out for initiatives such as 'national pub week' to support community pubs and consider whether you could up sticks to your local for an evening. Or donate a set to the pub]

It seems to me that whilst any club can be a bit smarter in publicising themselves many clubs are just too small to exist in any meaningful way beyond match chess, and that tends to be their raison d'etre. Most of us will have experienced clubs where if any strong players are about on a normal club night , they are in the bar rather than encouraging weaker players - a night socialising being preferable to playing a patzer. And not every club administrator makes a good coach or indeed welcomer.

A good room does help. We used to meet in a community room which was quite close to a pub with a chess board that some people used to repair to. That changed hands and we moved to a church hall but there was no atmosphere and we looked at venues with a bar. We found a good one, a social club, with a function room and right next to the railway and bus stations, which can be useful for opponents sometimes. We have all joined and can play in the bar anytime if there is room but we pay £20 a night to reserve the large function room in the League season. This is high ceilinged and L shaped so it is possible to go through games and give our 2 novices a bit of coaching without disturbing the League matches. Tuesdays are often quiet in the bar so you could also take a board in there if you wanted to.

A few of us played in the bar over the summer and it got a bit of interest from other members. We have picked up one new member from the social club. We definitely seem to be on the up since we moved so I hope this continues.

Justin Hadi wrote:Well no, there are several clubs in London with similar arrangements. Off the top of my head I can think of Ealing ....

Sorry, I think we misunderstand each other. Ealing when I've been there is in a room above a pub. If we're including that then of course there are loads of those (you could count Golden Lane for a start).

I was initially talking about two separate rooms for chess only. Not chess in a pub or bar with a booked from for the serious chess.

Not that chess in a bar is a bad thing.



Wimbledon - who I used to play for in the TV league - book a room in a club and there's a bar downstairs. But they (the venue) won't let chess players downstairs even if they're buying drinks. Don't know why they take that attitude but it's one of the reasons why I no longer play for Wimbledon.

J T Melsom wrote:Thanks for responses so far - a good example of how we can share best practice on this forum.

I've also taken chess sets into pubs. The response is quite interesting, ranging from the 'oh no - a geeky nerdy type playing chess' to polite interest and asking for a game. Hard to see how we tap into this underbelly of players and understanding, and formalise it. [ However watch out for initiatives such as 'national pub week' to support community pubs and consider whether you could up sticks to your local for an evening. Or donate a set to the pub]

I completely agree. One thing I've found always to be positively taken by joe public is blitz chess. I think it appeals to many people in a way that longplay chess never can. I guess people have frustrating childhood memories of sitting at a board while their opponent takes 15 minutes to think.

The public seem to equate chess directly with intelligence, and most people think they are smart ! Once they've had a few beers in them they usually feel ready to take on Kasparov. Offering time odds makes it more interesting - especially if you only get say one minute.

For publicity purposes it's perhaps best to focus on arranging the more non-serious types of events in sociable places, such as simuls and off-hand blitz games/tourneys, somewhere like a shopping centre. Another thing that tends go down very well with the public is blindfold simuls. However, I believe noisy surroundings tend to make it extremely difficult for the blindfolded player to concentrate.