Participation and funding

[Angus McDonald]

Chess either isn't getting it's case across or the world is absolutely crazy?
Answer, both?
If Chess makes it to the winter Olympics what funding could/should be expected.
Here's some fancy figures. Winter Olympics funding. Bobsleigh participation in UK (50 people?)
Bobsleigh
£3,304,250
0-1 medal

Curling
£2,055,100
1-2 medals

Figure skating
£174,338
0 medals

Short track speed skating
£2,953,400
0-1 medal

Skeleton
£3,447,600
1 medal

Ski & snowboard
£1,509,950
1-2 medals

[Alex Holowczak]

I'm amazed at how little funding and time/attention is given to Ice Hockey. In my opinion, it's the most entertaining sport in the world, and we were Olympic Champions in 1936! Maybe it's the Ukrainian in me, but I find the sports at the Winter Olympics are more entertaining than those at the Summer Olympics.

[John Upham]

The Olympics have (IMHO) gone downhill ever since they discontinued

Duelling Pistol Shooting

and

Live Pigeon Shooting

Hopefully Sky Sports or BT Sport will reconsider covering these.

[Alex Holowczak]

The Olympics have (IMHO) gone downhill

Many of the alpine skiers arriving on the start at their course in Sochi will hope they still do.

[John Upham]

I was hoping no-one would latch on to my dreadul pun.

I will allow AH to make reference to our representative at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Ski Jumping.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Chess either isn't getting it's case across or the world is absolutely crazy?
Answer, both?
If Chess makes it to the winter Olympics what funding could/should be expected.
Here's some fancy figures. Winter Olympics funding. Bobsleigh participation in UK (50 people?)
Bobsleigh
£3,304,250
0-1 medal
... etc

A few thoughts :

To be honest I doubt that most grass roots players would see the connection. Does the amount of money pumped into Premier League football make a difference to Sunday morning football players? Does sponsorship of top level tennis (career winnings to date for Andy Murray reported as £18M) impact members at local tennis clubs, who presumably still have to pay for the cost of their pastime.
As for the bobsleigh etc, I imagine the answer is simple - people watched it on television, and TV companies paid for the privilege. That £3.3M of funding would represent £66k for each of the estimated 50 people who take part - I doubt they saw that money.
Much as I would like to see chess have a higher profile, I don't see the market for chess on TV, apart from as a minority interest, and that is very well served by internet coverage.

[PeterFarr]

Chess is essentially a Winter Sport - I've always presumed that's why the Russians are so good at it.

But maybe it needs a new twist to make it to the Winter Olympics.

With this in mind, I have invented Chess Ice-Skating:-

A board is set up at the edge of the ice-rink. After each move, the player that has just moved must skate a lap of the rink. The opponent must complete their move before the first player returns. The faster you skate, the less time your opponent has. The winner is the victor of the chess game.

To make it more interesting for spectators, it is best played as a 6 board match, so that at any one time 6 players are zooming around the rink.

There is also a "Rapid-play Variant", where the player on the move doesn't have to wait for his opponent to return, but may instead move and start skating straight away; and if he / she catches up with the opponent around the rink, then that wins the game. However, this really lacks the purity of the "classical" long-play format, and is only popular in India and Kalmikya, where there are a few franchised teams owned by chess ice-skating billionaire entrepreneurs.

The genius of it is that, if you have no interest in chess, you can enjoy watching the skating, and vice versa; unlike chess-boxing, where you only have one activity going on at a time.

(P.S. attentive readers will note the the whole idea is a rip-off from round-the-houses-chess, supposedly invented by Alan Turing; however as he failed to patent it, I have done so instead and now hold all the World Championship rights, in partnership with Bernie Ecclestone and Kursan Ilyumzhinov).

[Graham Borrowdale]

I try to make a sensible point...
Maybe I am in the wrong place?

[PeterFarr]

I try to make a sensible point...
Maybe I am in the wrong place?

Apologies, it was just a flight of fancy. I thought you hit the nail on the head - the funding is more to do with spectator / TV audience numbers than level of grassroots participation.

[Neil Graham]

We discussed Olympic funding here:-

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... it=olympic

[Alex Holowczak]

Apologies, it was just a flight of fancy. I thought you hit the nail on the head - the funding is more to do with spectator / TV audience numbers than level of grassroots participation.

Absolutely. There might be a billion chess players in the world, but if 500 people are watching the live feed of a game, how much money is that worth to a sponsor? Your brand reaches 500 people, not 1,000,000,000.

[John R Moore]

I am impressed by Alex's knowledge of ice hockey, as I agree with him, ice hockey is very entertaining, as I have been attending matches in this country since the mid 1970's when the London Lions played out of Wembley arena for one season, then becoming an international ice hockey referee and linesman in the 80's and 90's. So chess is slightly different to my previous hobby

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Chess is essentially a Winter Sport - I've always presumed that's why the Russians are so good at it.

But maybe it needs a new twist to make it to the Winter Olympics.

With this in mind, I have invented Chess Ice-Skating:-

A board is set up at the edge of the ice-rink. After each move, the player that has just moved must skate a lap of the rink. The opponent must complete their move before the first player returns. The faster you skate, the less time your opponent has. The winner is the victor of the chess game.

To make it more interesting for spectators, it is best played as a 6 board match, so that at any one time 6 players are zooming around the rink.

There is also a "Rapid-play Variant", where the player on the move doesn't have to wait for his opponent to return, but may instead move and start skating straight away; and if he / she catches up with the opponent around the rink, then that wins the game. However, this really lacks the purity of the "classical" long-play format, and is only popular in India and Kalmikya, where there are a few franchised teams owned by chess ice-skating billionaire entrepreneurs.

The genius of it is that, if you have no interest in chess, you can enjoy watching the skating, and vice versa; unlike chess-boxing, where you only have one activity going on at a time.

(P.S. attentive readers will note the the whole idea is a rip-off from round-the-houses-chess, supposedly invented by Alan Turing; however as he failed to patent it, I have done so instead and now hold all the World Championship rights, in partnership with Bernie Ecclestone and Kursan Ilyumzhinov).

I think the missing element here is figure skating. Add that to the speed skating and the chess, and you will have sure-fire winner. Get celebrity judges to score the figure skating, and yet more judges for the chess if it is a draw, and add in phone-in votes and you will get the massive television audience you are after. Alternatively, do live chess on the ice, using ice hockey players in costumes.

[PeterFarr]

I think the missing element here is figure skating. Add that to the speed skating and the chess, and you will have sure-fire winner. Get celebrity judges to score the figure skating, and yet more judges for the chess if it is a draw, and add in phone-in votes and you will get the massive television audience you are after. Alternatively, do live chess on the ice, using ice hockey players in costumes.

Genius - you make Simon Cowell look like an amateur

[Peter D Williams]

Chess either isn't getting it's case across or the world is absolutely crazy?
Answer, both?
If Chess makes it to the winter Olympics what funding could/should be expected.
Here's some fancy figures. Winter Olympics funding. Bobsleigh participation in UK (50 people?)
Bobsleigh
£3,304,250
0-1 medal
... etc

A few thoughts :

To be honest I doubt that most grass roots players would see the connection. Does the amount of money pumped into Premier League football make a difference to Sunday morning football players? Does sponsorship of top level tennis (career winnings to date for Andy Murray reported as £18M) impact members at local tennis clubs, who presumably still have to pay for the cost of their pastime.
As for the bobsleigh etc, I imagine the answer is simple - people watched it on television, and TV companies paid for the privilege. That £3.3M of funding would represent £66k for each of the estimated 50 people who take part - I doubt they saw that money.
Much as I would like to see chess have a higher profile, I don't see the market for chess on TV, apart from as a minority interest, and that is very well served by internet coverage.

The amount of money put into Premier football does help Sunday morning players and the wider community where a club is based take a look at Arsenal football club and what it does below

The process started with the community use of Arsenal's JVC Sports Centre behind the Clock End at Highbury. As soon as the community programme started, it became a hive of activity hosting soccer schools, indoor bowls, fitness training and a sports college for the department’s trainees. The training programme has been the cornerstone of Arsenal in the Community from the very beginning and many former trainees are still with Arsenal Football Club, dotted about the place in different departments. Not a lot of people know that the Arsenal Ladies began as a trainee scheme too.

The Sports Centre soon reached capacity and outreach work began. School visits and soccer schools became an integral part of the programme. Whilst Arsenal was used to engaging young people through sport, the idea of motivating and encouraging young people at school using Arsenal as the hook was soon developed and as a result several education initiatives have been introduced and developed.

In recent years, Arsenal in the Community’s outreach work has taken place on estates and parks - offering local young people the opportunity to play football with the department and take advantage of the other education, social inclusion and employment programmes we have to offer. Arsenal in the Community has also been instrumental in upgrading local facilities, transforming them into quality pitches that young people actually want to play on.

These programmes embrace a wide variety of community involvement and they’re delivered and received with the same energy and commitment today as when they started 25 years ago. The one thing that has changed since the beginning is the size and location of the ‘Arsenal Community.’ With the globalisation of football Arsenal has passionate supporters of the Club all over the world who wants to get involved with the Club and play football ‘the Arsenal way.’

Other clubs also do this sort of thing via the income made from TV and other income

More money in chess would help as it could fund our future juniors who then go on to become adult players.

As for chess i always thought one of the best ways to sell it to the tv/ public is that children play chess of all races in a friendly manner all over the UK.

Well is time for a cheese and ham toaster