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Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:37 pmBut you want GMs for norm purposes (although I know you need a variety of nations).
Gentle reminder - Keith's post was about the British Online Championships.NickFaulks wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:45 pmIn a national championship, by definition you don't need a variety of nations ( except that you cannot use this exemption for all of your norms ).
Chess players have been fretting about the number of very old chess players for at least 20 years, during which time the age profile hasn't noticeably changed. We have this idea that 80-year-olds who retire from chess need to be replaced by 20-year-olds for chess to be "sustainable". They don't - chess will trundle along just fine if the 80-year-olds are replaced with 55-year-olds newly retired from work or from child-rearing, which is exactly what happens.Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:04 pmMaybe, maybe not. A perennial worry before the pandemic was the ageing chess demographic and whether clubs/ leagues/ congresses would fold over time. The pandemic hasn't changed that.
Are you quite sure about that? Isn't it more the case that the players are mostly the same people as twenty years ago, only twenty years older? One way of validating is to look at grading codes. Codes in the range 10xxxx to 15xxxx were those issued when universal grading first went national in the mid 1980s.Chris Goodall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:36 pmChess players have been fretting about the number of very old chess players for at least 20 years, during which time the age profile hasn't noticeably changed.
You what?Chris Goodall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:36 pmChess is a game that doesn't tax ... your short-term memory.
Yes, I tripped over that too. I'm not sure that it taxes much else.IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:35 pmYou what?Chris Goodall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:36 pmChess is a game that doesn't tax ... your short-term memory.
Something very similar to what you describe happens in bridge, which is how that mind sport has been sustained for many years.Chris Goodall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:36 pmChess players have been fretting about the number of very old chess players for at least 20 years, during which time the age profile hasn't noticeably changed. We have this idea that 80-year-olds who retire from chess need to be replaced by 20-year-olds for chess to be "sustainable". They don't - chess will trundle along just fine if the 80-year-olds are replaced with 55-year-olds newly retired from work or from child-rearing, which is exactly what happens.
An interesting comment. Chris is right to say that there has been a lot of doom and gloom for many years and I have to admit that things aren't quite as bad as I dreaded twenty years ago. However some of it is driven by what I consider a "false boom" - chess was a massive thing in universities in the 1970s (and outside of it, due to the Fischer effect) and the students of the 1970s are the generation now retiring and returning to chess.Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:48 pmAre you quite sure about that? Isn't it more the case that the players are mostly the same people as twenty years ago, only twenty years older? One way of validating is to look at grading codes. Codes in the range 10xxxx to 15xxxx were those issued when universal grading first went national in the mid 1980s.Chris Goodall wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:36 pmChess players have been fretting about the number of very old chess players for at least 20 years, during which time the age profile hasn't noticeably changed.
There's no doubt a lot more players under ten in competitions than there were in the 1950s and 1960s. It doesn't translate into numerous players in their late teens and early twenties.
They definitely fit my impression - the Woodhouse (top division of the Yorkshire league) has seemed to add very few new long term players over the time I've been playing in it.And as I keep saying, those players already exist.MartinCarpenter wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:00 pmImpressive records
Mostly from people moving in/post retirement than juniors as well. 4NCL 3N isn't that different. Manchester has had 3C's, of course which has helped a huge amount.
The demographic, especially of those playing on a regular basis, just keeps getting steadily older. At some point we're going to have to start finding new players at quite a substantial rate. Or just let the leagues shrink.
I've mentioned earlier in the Topic as a reply to Mr Melsom about Poulton Chess Club and our growing numbers and about sharing some ideas and best practice. In 2019 we gained a lot of new members mostly people in their twenties. Initially they just wanted to play social chess at the club but after spending time with each one of them and keeping in contact with them during the pandemic, they seem keen to play more serious stuff.MartinCarpenter wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:00 pmImpressive records
Mostly from people moving in/post retirement than juniors as well. 4NCL 3N isn't that different. Manchester has had 3C's, of course which has helped a huge amount.
The demographic, especially of those playing on a regular basis, just keeps getting steadily older. At some point we're going to have to start finding new players at quite a substantial rate. Or just let the leagues shrink.