Chess once we restart over the board

[Alan Kennedy]

Also, maybe when people have no money they'll be keen to play something that costs so little to play

Zoom cost me £100 or so but there is a free version you could use (but meetings are limited to 40 minutes). Chesskid.com is free unless you want to use their lessons. the fee for Zoom is equivalent to two and a half member subs from the chess club and i would be very disappointed if we did not get two new members from this initiative! Growth happens if people make it happen.

[Alan Kennedy]

Alan, I've tried to coach but it really isn't that easy even if it is easier than some people think.

Clearly you have tried hard so i suspect the fault is not with you. Well done for your efforts chess admin can be a thankless task - as is building anything in business or in leisure. You rightly pointed out coaching is a skill. It can to a certain extent be learned. The other point i made is get people doing what they are good at. if you are not a good coach then find someone who is. that worked very well in Witney chess club as the skills of the committee complimented each other (i was hopeless at admin!).

[Alan Kennedy]

maybe the ecf will give chess players an reduction on membership??

So far it's been a small cash generator as the 4NCL requires people playing for English teams in the 4NCL Online league to be at least ECF Supporter members.

It will probably be very damaging to ECF finances, or at least their short-term cash flow, come membership renewal time as no-one will have any reason to renew promptly if all chess is still suspended.

only if chess players let it be damaging. Thus far i have 16 signed up for the chess club. I very much hope it will lead to sufficient new members for Witney chess club to far outweight any ecf subs or any other issues. Why focus on the ECF subs that are minutiae - focus on the opportunity!

[Alan Kennedy]

Nick Faulks - are you seriously saying that clubs shouldn't start thinking about the future? It would be a relatively simple process to canvas views of existing members to ascertain the likelihood of them playing next year. As we are required to confirm the number of teams we wish to enter in our local league at the AGM each year, my club officers almost invariably seek to establish possible changes in circumstances, so we can plan for changes in our numbers. Its not a precise survey but in small clubs its quite important.

yes we can let the local leagues know the teams in September. Let us focus on the present ie loads of bored children desparate to learn to play chess.

[Alan Kennedy]

I agree that some of the pessimism in this thread may perhaps be unwarranted, IMO when this is over (or even when restrictions are eased to an extent) then many people will want to do the things they couldn't before - not least because they may now appreciate them even more.

And there's no reason why playing OTB chess can't be one of those things.

loving the positivity Matt - well done!

[Alan Kennedy]

I will be resuming at the earliest opportunity, so I apologise if I sounded overly pessimistic. Justin makes a fair point, that whilst chess has always been affordable, interests which might reduce involvement in chess such as support for a local football team might now seem too expensive. In some cases there may not even be a team to support. I'd rather we talked about things as affordable rather than cheap, because trying to do things on the cheap is in my view a contributing factor in decline, as it often leads to uncomfortable venues etc.

People travel to the 4ncl because they enjoy the experience. Ditto people pay to have fun and will do in the future. If the experience is not good they wont pay for it. Chess is so cheap relatively to other sports. Even my shoes for parkrunning cost more. Park run is free btw. The shoes cost more than my Witney chess club subscription. OK if Mike Truran is reading this i know i don't pay subs - i am a life member - but you get the point!

[Alan Kennedy]

Well yes - its no more than an assessment on the basis of knowledge at the time of responding, but some of us are aware of players who no longer drive to away fixtures, and in the same way as that has to be taken into account, there will be elderly vulnerable club members less likely to return post pandemic. One of my club members helps share the responsibility for opening up, if his circumstances change for any reason we'd have to make plans. I think that was the basis on which the thread was started, not when will the first night be, but what will it look like.

the picture you describe is a symptom of years of neglecting to focus on growth. It is not dissimilar to the church of england where the congregations are generally elderly. Holy Trinty Bromptom however, who started the Alpha course have grown exponentially. HTB also (like Witney chess club) is a fun place to be - as are growing businesses. This is an opportunity please can chess players show a sense of urgency about seizing the initiative (not you John it is a general point about the culture). Incidentally i would add the ecf board have been amazing - please do not knock them.

[J T Melsom]

Alan I'm not disagreeing - suffice to say the emphasis on cheap only makes sense if it provides value. 4NCL provides good value for me when its in Maidenhead, less so Daventry. I dare say some chess players would regard 4NCL as cheap regardless of venue. I've regularly watched my local football league side. We've been robbed of promotion by this hiatus, but I'm not sure the Championship is affordable or value.

And yes please keep up the good work with the juniors. Any Bucks organisers who want me to work as part of a team I'm probably still available, just not over extending myself with volunteering.

[Alan Kennedy]

You seem very engaged in this thread considering you dismissed its value in your opening post.

I have never found it easy to ignore suggestions that club chess is about to die, which have been around for as long as I can remember. As I have said, I see no reason to worry about that in my neck of the woods and I sincerely hope that the same is true in yours.

When i do consulting with firms and businesses one always looks to the management and the culture. For example just this week i was speaking to two firms. One is doing a hundred phone calls a day to developers to build his contact database the other is sitting there in a sulk. I know which one will be seriously profitable going forward. I am looking to change the culture of negativity. My kids had amazing fun on Tim Onions chess camps when we lived in Devon, lets talk about that to our audience. 29 years later we still play chess together over the internet (it is free btw) and there is amazing banter. Personally I think we should be talking about why the English chess federation has not given Tim Onions an award not about whether we close clubs.

[David Sedgwick]

Personally I think we should be talking about why the English chess federation has not given Tim Onions an award not about whether we close clubs.

To the best of my recollection, I have never heard of Tim Onions, which may say more about me than it does about him.

However, if you feel that he is deserving of the ECF President's Award for Services to Chess, why don't you nominate him for it?

[J T Melsom]

Nick Faulks - I think you might need to travel a bit - premature to talk about the death of chess outside London but its in decline. Incidentally whilst there are signs of growth in London what's the picture at grass-roots level? Is there a club in every borough? The capital really needs to sustain chess outside Zone 1 to be genuinely healthy.

[David Blower]

OK does anyone have a chess club on chess.com

If so do you want a Vote Chess match against Brewood Chess Circle. We are a fairly small chess club, but I am not too bothered about how many members we are playing against.

My suggestion is a move every 48 hours, with us as white (because our members want to explore different openings.)

If so, please reply in this thread with the name of your club on chess.com

The first club to accept, I will issue a challenge to them.

[Alan Kennedy]

Personally I think we should be talking about why the English chess federation has not given Tim Onions an award not about whether we close clubs.

To the best of my recollection, I have never heard of Tim Onions, which may say more about me than it does about him.

However, if you feel that he is deserving of the ECF President's Award for Services to Chess, why don't you nominate him for it?

he and dave regis have written some amazing books to help children learn chess (see the resources page of the CSC or Witney chess club web pages. He ran summer chess camps in Devon and along with the likes of Victor Cross used to run four or five tournaments per year. He did not play club or league chess but used to run circa four chess clubs at schools in Devon. (i guess he had a grade of circa 120)
David you may not have come accross him but you will have come accross children he helped learn to play chess in the Oxford junior squad and at tournaments he ran. I left Devon in 1996 but i recall Nick Frost and David Hodge (both of whom played in the varsity match from memory went to the Devon junior training sessions. There have no doubt been many others since then. I nominated him a few years back - i will have another go. Any thoughts on the video or the general concept David.

[Roger de Coverly]

My suggestion is a move every 48 hours, with us as white (because our members want to explore different openings.)

Be cautious of playing to "postal" rules on chess.com because of the risk of false accusations of cheating.

http://lostontime.blogspot.com/2019/10/ ... ed_67.html

[J T Melsom]

Roger

its Vote Chess - in order to cheat there would have to be collusion on the part of multiple people to consistently agree a computer move at key moments. It may happen but not terribly likely. Also I genuinely doubt that chess.com admins would be particularly interested in a match of this type, they seem to have enough on their plate policing existing events.