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'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
I'd imagine at the least the modern(?) CFC VMs would like to see, if possible, some sort of a cost-benefit analysis of anything given freely by the CFC in the way of former fee revenue forgone, even as part of an introductory offer. That might be tough to come up with.
If I get you right, people might be more willing to give personal data, e.g. date of birth(?), for an initial free trial of the sort you propose. If the CFC has that sort of info for every member eventually, yes, that seems rather valuable if utilized at all properly by the CFC.
Chess 4 Charity does sound like it was quite a hit. I saw (& played) Gabriel Brown not too many years ago, when he became active in chess again, for a seemingly short time, as a young adult. Haven't seen or heard of Lloyd Mai for a long time.
On the lighter(?) side, is this about what you had in mind when you wrote of "goth" regarding my old DIY tee? :
I'd imagine at the least the modern(?) CFC VMs would like to see, if possible, some sort of a cost-benefit analysis of anything given freely by the CFC in the way of former fee revenue forgone, even as part of an introductory offer. That might be tough to come up with.
If I get you right, people might be more willing to give personal data, e.g. date of birth(?), for an initial free trial of the sort you propose. If the CFC has that sort of info for every member eventually, yes, that seems rather valuable if utilized at all properly by the CFC.
Chess 4 Charity does sound like it was quite a hit. I saw (& played) Gabriel Brown not too many years ago, when he became active in chess again, for a seemingly short time, as a young adult. Haven't seen or heard of Lloyd Mai for a long time.
On the lighter(?) side, is this about what you had in mind when you wrote of "goth" regarding my old DIY tee? :
Hey, I'll do all the work ... with perhaps a lean on Bob A. ... but the data we should be after is:
Where are the Trial Members coming from? Places such as existing chess clubs, internet chess playing websites (chess dot com et al) And can we better target the campaign.
Who is accepting the Trial Membership. Age bracket? Mobile Gen?
That kind of data is worth the effort alone.
There's a great untapped resource on the CFC's website; Chess Clubs ... http://chess.ca/clubs .It would be greatly to our advantage if we could send off an email campaign to those links ... the links that are still alive ;) Email campaigns can range in subject matter ...monies for our elite ...membership package offers ...branded apparel.
...
There's a great untapped resource on the CFC's website; Chess Clubs ... http://chess.ca/clubs .It would be greatly to our advantage if we could send off an email campaign to those links ... the links that are still alive ;) Email campaigns can range in subject matter ...monies for our elite ...membership package offers ...branded apparel.
...
In some year that I was a Governor, as a sort of club contact person I was to email clubs information that I (and some of the CFC Exec) thought they'd find useful/informative. I didn't get many replies from the club contacts. Perhaps the CFC simply didn't have enough info of interest to offer up to clubs at the time?! One thing that might be possible one day is for the CFC to set up internet team match(es) between willing clubs across Canada, though this might be difficult to arrange on a large scale. Other than that, there's the stuff you mentioned that a club contact person could send to clubs by email.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
...
I wasn't kidding when I said here on C.T. that I would double the CFC's Membership within a year ... not much of a challenge really.
...
Hi once again, Neil.
I'm curious if you've given thought to possible long-term planning for your nascent SoCA (Society of Chess Aficionados) organization, or to a possible fresh long-term business plan by the CFC (assuming that for you, the EOCA/OCA are out of any such consideration). Also, might you see any sort of chess variant(s) as being a possible sideline for either organization, even far down the line (fwiw, I'm not quite as keen about all sorts of chess variants as I once was, at least for now)?
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Sunday, 9th July, 2017, 08:13 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
Hi Kevin, sup yo?
Great weekend this was! Had a productive meeting with a First Nation band councillor. Talked about his people, our people, the game of chess and how we could deliver the game into a remote community and what the game of chess is really all about! We talked about poverty, about enabling the youth and about how competitive we all are. As you can imagine it was a very open and honest discussion. I have admit, I was a little intimidated.
Long term game plan for the Society of Chess Aficionados is to celebrate and promote our game. Simple. Personally speaking, and I don't speak for the others, I'm open to all chess adventures which would have a positive impact. The strength of that impact doesn't require measurement. One time participation in a prize fund (for whatever reason such as brand development) or bringing our game into fresh new areas which will have a long term benefit, are all good! The goal is to participate.
Next summer we will have our first tournament ... U1600 Chess Tournament ... and it will have a massive prize fund and be properly staged. The first one of its kind! The purpose of the tourney is celebrate the base, the grass roots, the chess enthusiast. It'd be great if there was some sort of chess variant activity going on!
As for the other chess entities such as the CFC, the ACA, the FQE, etc., etc., I think they all can benefit from supporting chess variants. Why not? Standard chess runs so deep in our culture that it would benefit, and not be diminished, by the energy that chess variants bring.
Just crude single column layout for testing purposes with only two feeds being aggregated, but the thing works! When skinned each chess news feed source (and we'll have a good 1/2 doz of those) will feature its own image and styled with a more condensed list in a grid/card layout!
Yet another Canadian/World first!
After 3, yep 3, different website design themes I have finally decided on two entirely different ones, but they're both the same sort of. We'll be using columns and rows framework. Great for mobile and desktop ...I'm leaning toward something like Packery:
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
Good to hear of your conferring with the councillor, Neil. For any possible CFC presidential run any year soon, this would seem a feather in your cap. One concern I have is whether running SoCA might cause some sort of conflict, if you were to one day become a CFC officer (e.g. Prez). Maybe it wouldn't, if SoCA would not be a main source of income, if SoCA comes to bring such. I can't recall the exact rule offhand.
Also in regard to your latest post here, the idea of a SoCA newsfeed is nice. Perhaps in future it might include much news about amateur/class player level chess in Canada. Games from such levels don't much make the [online] magazine anymore, the way they commonly did in the 20th century. A SoCA mag might one day be possible, who knows?
Regarding a long-term plan for SoCA, I'd forgot it seems you already have (partially?) outlined one on chesstalk (or maybe it's a medium-term plan!?), perhaps as largely given in post #11 in the following link:
I'm intrigued about the idea of SoCA one day publishing chess authors. Also, were you aware that books about chess variant(s) are published in the world, at least from time to time?
Very ambitious goals for some organization to have would be not only run a chess server offering the odd chess variants, but offer for sale chess variant pieces and boards (at least the most popular ones) - moulds for a factory in Canada might be out of reach for even the most ambitious for a long time though, even if variant equipment's to be a sideline in a chess equipment factory. Meanwhile, Bughouse events are slowly becoming more popular worldwide, as is apparent by the internet (a considerable number held per year even in Canada, judging by an internet search for recent years).
The CFC put together a long-term plan some years ago. Key parts of it have been realized, but other parts were unrealistic IMHO. However, even flawed or incomplete plans can largely lead to success, if there is excellent execution. Afaik, the EOCA and OCA don't (at least currently) have what might be called long-term (nor medium-term?) plans - my impression is that any planning looks ahead just one year at a time for most chess organizations.
P.S.: Here's a link re: photos of some chess variant pieces (chess variant boards can sometimes be found, e.g. 10x10 was sold as a checkers [aka draughts] board type on amazon.ca last I looked). At the moment the 5 piece kits depicted are quite expensive, outrageously so on amazon.ca afaik. There is enough variety that the figurines in all of the kits combined are more or less suitable for many chess variants, perhaps even for my own Sac Chess variant invention. FYI, the Archbishop (moves like B+N) and the Chancellor (moves like R+N), which have other names too, are the most popular fairy chess piece types in practice. The Unicorn is also a name for a fairy chess piece (has different moves depending on the variant played, e.g. in 3D chess variants it standardly changes all 3 coordinates at a time as it moves). IMHO it's quite deserving of honourable mention, in terms of popular use or perhaps even overuse by variant inventors, and in variants played. There are many other relatively popular fairy piece types, but the frequency ranking of such isn't clear to me. The piece kits are based on Musketeer Chess, a commercial variant, though the idea is for the kits to be used for any sort of chess variants that they can be:
I'd add that there are many multi-player chess variants, and I believe Strategy Games at least at one time sold a multi-player game clock in Ottawa, much like a chess clock is for just 2 players.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Wednesday, 12th July, 2017, 08:54 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
I'm suffering a bit because of the occasional Ottawa heat. As of last summer I'm not allowed to have an air conditioner hanging out of my room's apartment window, so I have to settle for a fan. There's still the provided air conditioner in the living room that hangs out on the balcony, at least. So, at least for now I'm not playing on the major chess variant website I've gone to (The Chess Variant Pages), as my 'playstation' is in my room (I have no truly mobile devices). Instead I settle for occasionally viewing some games being played (on what's called Game Courier there) of what seems to be the best variant I've invented by far ("Sac Chess", a 10x10 two player game with 30 pieces per side), as it seems to have had a momentary wave of interest after I discussed it there on a forum after a long lull. It's not easy to invent a quality chess variant, especially a truly popular one, at least for me. Some people go the commercial route, but I chose to make my variants public domain, as this was easier, and may allow them to become popular sooner, if ever.
Towards the end of June I played in the Eastern Ontario Open. I seldom seem to play my best when the weather is hot, but I still won some of my entry fee back. I had a perfect score with White, but two draws and a loss to David Gordon otherwise. Fwiw, Dave thinks the only really good chess variant he's aware of is Bughouse, in his opinion.
For the summer I hope I'll get around to being fitter, and studying chess when it's not so muggy even inside. Other than that there's chess message boards (abstract chess politics like in this thread, plus any stuff that arises which inspires me), and seeing how my chess variant is promoting itself under various keywords on Google, or the number of views of my CFC blog entries about it. Exciting stuff. A lot of viewers are sending blog entries to a friend, but I suspect it may just be the last one entered, i.e. mine, about why chess is so popular. I play both sides of the argument about chess vs. chess variants. :) I may start showing up at the RA again shortly. The last couple of summers I was a bit miffed that the bar was closed during weather deemed acceptable, so people had to use the patio deck to get a (more limited) menu selection plus drinks. Every now and then I think about changing my set opening repertoire (which I largely don't deviate from), but it still seems perfect for me, even though it's wide and varied. I worry about getting largely inert, like chess in Canada. At least there's always the TV. Hope you have plenty to occupy yourself.
Kevin
P.S.: Here's a link to all logs of finished Sac Chess games played on Game Courier to date:
Plus, if you care to visit, here's a link to a CFC blog entry of mine that includes a link to a package by Dutch math professor H.G. Muller that allows one to play a number of variants against a computer, including Sac Chess:
A list of chess variants I've invented to date, as can be found on The Chess Variant Pages (and in many cases, available for Play-By-Mail (PBM) on Game Courier):
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
An internet search revealed to me that there used to be a chess variant magazine, but I suppose it's gone defunct along with the British Chess Variants Society. So, on the bright side, that niche is wide open:
P.S.: Oops, I missed a bit of a gold mine of books & periodicals listed on the Chess Variant Pages website. Perhaps some of them are magazines not yet defunct that refer to chess variants (note that this particular webpage seems to be rather old):
FYI, there's also a so-called world bughouse chess federation (corporation) located in L.A., but I don't think it has claim to any sort of world bughouse championship rights:
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
Hello again Neil
I've looked back on many of my old wishes about what the CFC might strive for in future, and I'll recap those you may have missed, in case you might care to post your thoughts on any of them:
Short-term wishes:
1. Have a server available for CFC members that's ready to be used;
2. Have a USCF-style rating floor (e.g. if you're ever 15xx you can't go below 1300 ever);
3. Occasional membership surveys;
4. Figure out how to promote chess better [as exciting] {cultural activity};
5. Try to use community TV channels across Canada to promote chess.
Long-term(?) wishes:
6. Provide list of top Senior players in Canada;
7. Provide something for non-elite adult players (e.g. more funding for some types of local events);
8. Encourage growth of Canadian chess clubs (helps promote team chess eventually too);
9. Regain Charitable Status for CFC;
10. New classes of Senior and Military memberships (discounted), and perhaps a class for women too;
11. Provide seperate Active and Blitz ratings;
12. Provide print CFC magazine again eventually;
13. Get a CFC office (and store) again eventually;
14. Provide Bughouse ratings eventually;
15. Eventually lower CFC membership fees;
16. Eventually lower CFC rating fees.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Saturday, 29th July, 2017, 01:59 PM.
Reason: Correcting explaining rating floor
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
I've looked back on many of my old wishes about what the CFC might strive for in future, and I'll recap those you may have missed, in case you might care to post your thoughts on any of them:
Short-term wishes:
1. Have a server available for CFC members that's ready to be used;
We could have had a server but lacked volunteers to staff it.
2. Have a USCF-style rating floor (e.g. if you're ever 15xx you can't go below 1400 ever);
The USCF rating floor for a peak rating of 15xx is 1300.
3. Occasional membership surveys;
4. Figure out how to promote chess better [as exciting] {cultural activity};
5. Try to use community TV channels across Canada to promote chess.
Long-term(?) wishes:
6. Provide list of top Senior players in Canada;
7. Provide something for non-elite adult players (e.g. more funding for some types of local events);
8. Encourage growth of Canadian chess clubs (helps promote team chess eventually too);
9. Regain Charitable Status for CFC;
10. New classes of Senior and Military memberships (discounted), and perhaps a class for women too;
11. Provide seperate Active and Blitz ratings;
12. Provide print CFC magazine again eventually;
I doubt the economics will ever allow that to happen again. Postal rates keep going up.
13. Get a CFC office (and store) again eventually;
14. Provide Bughouse ratings eventually;
15. Eventually lower CFC membership fees;
16. Eventually lower CFC rating fees.
I don't see how these are in any way compatible. You can't have lower fees and more services. We are operating near break even as it is with everything firing on all cylinders. At some point things are going to go awry and we are looking at at least small deficits if everything stays the same.
Re: 'Ottawa & Eastern Ontario chesstalk Public Social Group' thread 1.0
Some of my long-term wishes are very long-term, Vlad. :) They also sometimes assume a much enlarged membership size.
P.S.: Not that many years ago a CFC presidential candidate ran on a platform that included a vision of 100,000 CFC members, and he won (or was it 1 million members?).
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Saturday, 29th July, 2017, 02:06 PM.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
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