Local leagues and young adult particpation

[Chris J Greatorix]

Hello everyone,
I was wondering what proportion of your local league players were in the 18-28 ish age range? It has been mentioned recently that league chess is declining, are we overly reliant on the Fischer generation of British chess players to fill our league?
Probably most important is how many 18-28 years olds are playing in the top division of your local leagues? - I say this because even if we get a reasonable supply of young adults in the lower leagues, it is just as important that standards are maintained at the higher end.
One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard. I apologise if this has been discusses before.

[Rob Thompson]

In my league, there is 1 in that age range. Me

[IM Jack Rudd]

In the North Devon league, there are 0. (Mind you, if every team in the league were in action on the same day, the number of players concerned would be 8, so I think we're in the realm of statistical invalidity here.)

[Peter Shaw]

There were about 12 in the top division of the Yorkshire League, with 3 of them only playing 1 or 2 games due to being away at university most of the season. I thought that was quite a low figure until I saw the answers above!

[John Upham]

I was wondering what proportion of your local league players were in the 18-28 ish age range?

In the Surrey Border League approximately 48 players out of a total of 232 were more or less(!) juniors i.e. under 18 during the season just past.

To answer your actual question(!) I would ask Ian Thompson to reply as he has access to more accurate DoB information nad has just complete the rating return for the SBL.

[Alex Holowczak]

One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard.

There is a far greater problem. As far as I can tell, there are even fewer people in that age range who are captain of a league team, run a congress, and attend league meetings.

[Rob Thompson]

One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard.

There is a far greater problem. As far as I can tell, there are even fewer people in that age range who are captain of a league team, run a congress, and attend league meetings.

I actually ran the school Div 1 team in my local league, and other 6th form students run the lower divisions, so it may depend largely on area

[Ian Thompson]

Surrey Border League (whole):

42 aged under 18 (18% of total players/24% of those whose ages are known)
16 aged 18-28 (7% of total players/9% of those whose ages are known)
120 aged over 28 (50% of total players/67% of those whose ages are known)
61 of unknown age (26%)

Surrey Border League (Division 1):

6 aged under 18 (8% of total players/8% of those whose ages are known)
9 aged 18-28 (12% of total players/13% of those whose ages are known)
56 aged over 28 (76% of total players/79% of those whose ages are known)
3 of unknown age (4%)

[Alex Holowczak]

One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard.

There is a far greater problem. As far as I can tell, there are even fewer people in that age range who are captain of a league team, run a congress, and attend league meetings.

I actually ran the school Div 1 team in my local league, and other 6th form students run the lower divisions, so it may depend largely on area

I'm sure it does.

My experience with University level chess-running is that again, there are very few people who are organised enough to do such a thing. There are some very good organisers, but equally some very poor ones. University chess is usually their first exposure to running things, I guess, and it really shows.

Good ones get their entry in on time, complete with a list of players that never wavers. Others get their entry in late, send the money to the 4NCL by accident, keep changing their teams, send me an amended team list which is actually the same as the first team list they submitted...

[John Swain]

The statistics provided so far on this thread are interesting and informative. They bear out a feeling I expressed on this Forum about a year ago. However, I would suggest that instead of 18-28 year olds, we might replace 28 with 38 (or even 48) - we do not have enough youngish adults playing or organising chess.

[Alan Burke]

3Cs (Oldham) had six teams playing throughout the various divisions of the Manchester League this season, with eight players in the 18-28 age group having represented the club - along with another 21 who were aged under 18.

Of this total of 29, fifteen of them appeared in the top division (3Cs had two teams in that division), thirteen of which played at various times for the 3Cs' first team, which again retained the Manchester League Championship.

Regarding Alex's concern, this season's captain of the Greater Manchester Open County team was 17 years old when appointed.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard.

There is a far greater problem. As far as I can tell, there are even fewer people in that age range who are captain of a league team, run a congress, and attend league meetings.

Do they go the correct venues? <whistles innocently>

[Phil Makepeace]

Others get their entry in late, send the money to the 4NCL by accident, keep changing their teams, send me an amended team list which is actually the same as the first team list they submitted...

Sigh.

On a more positive note, Muswell Hill, who I captain in the Middlesex League, were represented by 22 players this season. Of these, eight fell into the 18-28 age bracket and a further three were under 18. All eleven aged under 30 are still improving.

[Alex Holowczak]

One day the Fischer generation players will no longer be with us, and would it be reasonable to assume that if there are no yong adults playing chess both at the top our local leagues and at the bottom then leagues may containe fewer divisions and be of weaker standard.

There is a far greater problem. As far as I can tell, there are even fewer people in that age range who are captain of a league team, run a congress, and attend league meetings.

Do they go the correct venues? <whistles innocently>

Yes, but not necessarily on time.

[Ben Purton]

26 Of Sambuca Sharks Squad of 34(Lawson and Davies both moved pre season)

Fall in to the 18-28 Bracket.

1 Is Under 18

Makepeace it one of them.

Ben