The CFC President wrote recently on the CFC site...

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  • The CFC President wrote recently on the CFC site...

    Before you read this, while I do not always agree with Vlad, I have total respect for the man....here is what he wrote on April 28, 2019...all I have to say is AMEN!

    04-28-2019, 01:10 PM#4
    Vladimir Drkulec
    CFC President
    THE CURRENT SITUATION – CHESS IN CANADA
    The CFC has become an organization of tournament players. If you don't play in tournaments, there is a perception that the CFC has nothing for you.
    There are two distinct market segments for chess within Canada based on age. The first segment is adult players. The second is junior age players which is usually defined as chess players under the age of 21. Among the members of the CFC there are currently 376 life members, 932 adult members, 449 Junior members, 71 Honorary members and 27 Family memberships as of May 1st, 2012. There are approximately 1000 members of the FQE.
    At the moment chess appears to be relatively stronger in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta with much lower participation in other parts of the country.
    It may also be possible to segment chess participants on the basis of gender and also on the basis of chess strength. Currently Canadian chess as a whole does a poor job of interesting girls and women in chess and also keeping them interested into adulthood. We also seem to be losing our strongest players of both genders and all ages. The experience in Windsor suggests that at least for younger players there is no significant difference in chess interest between boys and girls.
    The CFC encourages junior membership by offering a discount relative to the adult membership rate and also by offering a discount in rating fees for all junior events. Aside from participants in national championships, a CFC membership is not mandatory for participants in junior only events. There is a reduced rating fee for junior only events.
    Fragmentation of federations and chess organizations means that we are not always pulling in the same direction. Up until the recent agreement with the FQE (which still needs to be endorsed by the CFC governors) there has been a lack of influence in Quebec which causes a disconnect between the relatively thriving Quebec chess scene and the rest of Canada.
    The Chess and Math Association is a private non-profit company which organizes chess tournaments for children, sells chess books and equipment and also has programs of chess instruction, chess camps and outreach services and also holds national championships based on grade vs. the CFC which tends to hold youth championships based on age. In either case, it is often the same children competing in both sets of competitions. The CMA has always indicated a willingness to act as a partner rather than a competitor to the CFC. On balance the relationship between CMA and the CFC is a positive one. Many CMA organizers are also CFC organizers.
    The Chess and Math Association should not be considered a competitor but rather as an ally as they are doing some of the missionary work necessary to bring chess to a wider audience of participants. The real competition is the other activities that children and adults engage in which may prevent an adult or a child from participating in organized chess activities.
    To succeed in our current environment, the CFC must become more member centred – winning members by delivering greater value. Before we can satisfy members, we must first understand they value, want, need and desire from us. We need to learn how to do less and accomplish more-by focusing on what matters most, the critical success factors.

    For the CFC, one critical success factor will be to throw off the negativity which often seems to surround us. We need to find the will to put aside petty differences and provide support or at least get out of the way of those who are successfully working to build up chess in Canada. We need to make the conscious choice of wanting more for this great game of ours and we need to be willing to do the things that are necessary to make that future of more a reality. We need to create better relationships with members, with provincial federations especially including and reintegrating Quebec into our community, with chess organizers and with the Chess and Math Association.

    We can’t change what has happened before but we can learn from the mistakes of the past and resolve to do things differently. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results can only be described as a form of insanity (Einstein).

    We need to consciously choose to pursue a better future by mapping out where we would like to be in ten years time and then looking at the steps we need to take in order to get to that future state. Of course things will never work out exactly as we have planned them and yet if we have a vision of where we want to go we can use that to guide us in pursuing actions which bring that desired future state into reality.
    A Strategic Plan for the Chess Federation of Canada 2012

    Our current reality has been that we have had to lower expectations and settle for a reduced role for chess and the CFC. We move from crisis to crisis, often triggered by external circumstances, but often based on our own foibles and mistakes. The current laissez faire approach to chess organization and promotion is not working. There is still a certain level of complacency in the CFC which needs to be shaken if we wish to improve the results that we can experience. For a period of time member service was non-existent and we simply drifted with the currents and the CFC paid a price in declining member numbers. We were very slow to face reality and for a time our very existence came into question as it became clear that the current membership could not support the cost structure that was in place and had worked when we were a much larger organization. We have arrested the decline but are still relatively stagnant with little or no growth in numbers.

    VISION
    10,000 tournament playing members in ten years. In order to accomplish this we must include more female members (closing the gender gap) and retain children who become members through adulthood and into their senior years and improve outreach to find new members.
    A closer relationship with the FQE which is the Quebec federation d’echecs currently not affiliated with the CFC. We could not hope to move forward as a chess nation with 25% of Canada’s population and one third of Canada’s tournament chess players on the sidelines. The current proposed operating agreement between the CFC and FQE will take care of this issue for the time being (if ratified by the CFC governors).
    Obtain sponsorships both corporate and government.
    Cooperation with Chess and Math Association (CMA) in junior chess. The CMA is uniquely positioned to support the CFC in that they already have an infrastructure of programs of chess instruction and chess instructors in some key Canadian markets which is a requirement if we hope to increase the popularity of chess. They may be viewed as competitors in some CFC circles but in fact they share the same goal of popularizing chess and anyone who is not against our goals is to be encouraged.
    Identify and help expand the number of local champions (organizers) to step forward for the game in all major population centers to run tournaments, found chess clubs (especially junior chess clubs) and chess teaching programs to help increase the popularity of chess.
    Providing outstanding member service and improve communications with our members.
    Increase visibility and enhance the image of chess and chess players.
    Last edited by Vladimir Drkulec; 04-28-2019 at 01:34 PM.

  • #2
    May 1, 2012...is that a typo?

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Hugh Brodie View Post
      May 1, 2012...is that a typo?
      Vlad was giving the text of the 10-year plan, which was written in 2012 (and largely ignored, I believe).

      Comment


      • #4
        I wouldn't say it was ignored. It was not implemented though if it ever was I think we might experience some growth in membership. We have about 40% more members than we had when it was written or we do towards the end of some months. If we could just reach proportional levels of chess participation similar to the U.S. we would be very happy with the results. Everything that I see supports the idea that this is possible. Millions of people may be playing online chess in Canada. I have three of them as adult chess students.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Larry Bevand View Post
          Before you read this, while I do not always agree with Vlad, I have total respect for the man....here is what he wrote on April 28, 2019...all I have to say is AMEN!
          I am pretty proud of that effort. Alas, we have not really been able to make the wildly optimistic scenario come to pass. We even fell off the path in Windsor but within the last month or so, we got back on it. Hopefully, we will once again deliver young chessplayers to events around Canada like we did a few years ago.

          Comment


          • #6
            Sorry, but this statement is just a wish list of things that would be nice. It ignores most of the realities related to an organization like the CFC. Let me give examples:

            we must include more female members (closing the gender gap) and retain children who become members through adulthood and into their senior years

            Ok great, how? What is it that causes females to not play, and what causes children who become members to lapse as they age? I suspect the answers to those questions would present problems beyond the scope of the CFC to solve.

            A closer relationship with the FQE which is the Quebec federation d’echecs currently not affiliated with the CFC

            Maybe possible, but what does the CFC have to offer in this relationship? I don't know that anything they do can't easily be replicated by the FQE.

            Obtain sponsorships both corporate and government

            I've said this before and I'll say it again. When you approach someone for money, you can either ask for an investment (in which you are asking for money and offering an expected return) or you ask for charity (in which you ask for money with no expectation of return other than goodwill). The CFC persists in considering that they are asking for an investment or sponsorship, when any logically thinking business sees money to the CFC as charity. As a result, there is complete failure because they are approaching their request in the wrong manner.

            Cooperation with Chess and Math Association (CMA) in junior chess. The CMA is uniquely positioned to support the CFC in that they already have an infrastructure of programs of chess instruction and chess instructors in some key Canadian markets which is a requirement if we hope to increase the popularity of chess.

            Same question as the FQE. What does the CFC offer in this relationship?

            Identify and help expand the number of local champions (organizers) to step forward for the game in all major population centers to run tournaments, found chess clubs (especially junior chess clubs) and chess teaching programs to help increase the popularity of chess

            Same question. If someone wants to do this, they can already do it without the CFC for a lower cost. What is the CFC providing in terms of benefit?

            Providing outstanding member service and improve communications with our members.

            How is this being funded?

            Increase visibility and enhance the image of chess and chess players.

            Chess and chess players have a very highly ingrained image in the non chess world. I would say the image of chess is fairly positive, and the image of chess players is shaded to the negative. The CFC has no competencies associated with being able to change these impressions on any kind of scale.

            This kind of statement to me is completely useless as it gives the impression that something has been done, when in fact nothing has been done. The only action points involved are either vague or lacking in realistic strategy or scope.

            Comment


            • #7
              How about an action plan like this:

              1) Increase the visibility of the CFC to Canadians who play chess
              - Offer a favorable deal to all major online chess sites where they can affiliate with the CFC and receive significant benefits for signing up new players
              - In exchange, CFC provides newsletter space, social media promotion, and onsite tournament advertising for chess sites
              - Create Twitch partners who promote the CFC and are promoted by the CFC

              2) Improve retention of members
              - Create sliding membership prices based on years with the CFC; first year cheap, years 2-3 normal, years 4+ discounted
              - Alternatively - discount on subsequent years membership fee based on activity in current year with the concept that if you are playing a lot in 2019, you are generating rating fees and revenue for the CFC. You are a valued customer who should be rewarded.
              - Higher fees for juniors than adults - parents are absolutely 100% accustomed to signing their kids up for an activity and paying for it, at least at the start. There is going to be a natural level of churn among young players who sign up; without being crass, you have to get what revenue you can from them while they're still interested.
              - Recognize members based on length of membership; even something as simple as a special icon beside your rating in the rating list, or a different colored membership card

              3) Partner with CMA
              - This one is tough, because I think Larry is a little crazy for continuing to pursue this. However, he seems to want it, so exploit his desire to do so :D

              Comment


              • #8
                Assuming you have approx 1000 members who pay a yearly fee.Why not just offer the current membership a one time deal if you'd like to get a Life membership for say $350.00. I'd think that rather than the CFC guessing whether a guy will renew their membership you can get a big hit early and those whom decide to give up chess you still make money.
                I really don't know why the CFC thinks people will be return client when you offer nothing except rating games. Start giving the membership a reason to come back and maybe the membership will grow.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by David Ottosen View Post
                  Sorry, but this statement is just a wish list of things that would be nice.
                  You have to start with a wish list of things that would be nice if you want to steer for them.


                  It ignores most of the realities related to an organization like the CFC. Let me give examples:

                  we must include more female members (closing the gender gap) and retain children who become members through adulthood and into their senior years

                  Ok great, how? What is it that causes females to not play, and what causes children who become members to lapse as they age? I suspect the answers to those questions would present problems beyond the scope of the CFC to solve.
                  At a young age girls are just as interested in chess as boys. You have to create an accepting and safe environment free of bullying to keep them. You have to teach them fundamentals to help them improve and grow and you have to coach them with the same expectations that you do the boys.

                  One of the stories, I tell of my experience with girls in chess is the CYCC in Ottawa in 2013. There was an under 14 Girls section. The first place finisher was Qiyu Zhou who became a world champion a little over a year later. She achieved the WGM title and is a fixture on our women's olympiad teams. She is also a successful student at the University of Toronto. The girls that finished tied for second and third are both from Windsor and both are in engineering at the University of Waterloo. The girl that was at the top of the tiebreaks for fourth is also in engineering at the University of Waterloo. Engineering is a male dominated profession but here we have three girls who finished next to each other in the crosstable who are all assaulting this bastion of male domination perhaps in part because of their chess experience of successfully competing with boys.


                  Most of the girls in that tournament who I am aware of went on to academic success. I believe one of the girls in that section is at Carnegie Mellon, another at the University of Windsor. Some of them are still involved in chess at least from time to time.

                  A closer relationship with the FQE which is the Quebec federation d’echecs currently not affiliated with the CFC

                  Maybe possible, but what does the CFC have to offer in this relationship? I don't know that anything they do can't easily be replicated by the FQE.
                  Participation in FIDE and Chess Federation of Canada events which are the gateways to FIDE tournaments. As long as they have a good relationship with the CFC their players are treated the same as CFC members with respect to opportunities around the world.


                  Obtain sponsorships both corporate and government

                  I've said this before and I'll say it again. When you approach someone for money, you can either ask for an investment (in which you are asking for money and offering an expected return) or you ask for charity (in which you ask for money with no expectation of return other than goodwill). The CFC persists in considering that they are asking for an investment or sponsorship, when any logically thinking business sees money to the CFC as charity. As a result, there is complete failure because they are approaching their request in the wrong manner.
                  The area where I see possibilities of sponsorship are in the Sport Tourism Industry. Communities spend large amounts of money on Sport Tourism. Communities have spent significant amounts of money on chess. We attended the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance conference the last two years as has virtually every community that has hosted the Canadian Open and CYCC. For the most part we are not talking huge amounts of money - $5000, $10,000 or $40,000 here and there. It is a reality that this year we had two people attending the speed dating portion of the program and we were not able to meet with every community that wanted to meet with us because we had two tables and only 30 potential appointments. Every community that I met with was a reasonable prospect to sponsor a tournament. There are two communities which we met with last year who are still actively interested and remain good prospects. They were not part of the speed dating but we had discussions outside of that activity.

                  Take a CYCC in a fairly large or small community. If you put it in Saulte Ste Marie you get 270 kids, 1.5 parents per kid and maybe a sibling or two (lets call it 1.5). Lets say the hotels are $130 per night and people are spending about $50 per day on food, restaurants and entertainment. The CYCC is four days and most will probably come the day before the first round. Five nights for an average of four people plus spending on food is probably close to $200,000 or more of spending. Couple that with the Canadian Open and maybe 130 people who are spending 8 nights and still spending around $50 per day on food and drinks. Lets say many of them double up so they aren't spending $130 per night but $65. If they are getting fast food they are spending at least $10 per meal and most aren't going to eat just fast food. Even if we say $110 per day per person that is another $15,000 in spending in a relatively small community when you add gas and transportation the number goes way up. Fixed costs are already covered so in all likelihood most of this money goes into the community as increased profits for local businesses.

                  Its not surprising that local businesses and governments put up $40,000 in sponsorship in the Sault. They wanted to make a splash. Maybe next time they won't offer as much but they will still offer some reasonable amount to get that business again.

                  Cooperation with Chess and Math Association (CMA) in junior chess. The CMA is uniquely positioned to support the CFC in that they already have an infrastructure of programs of chess instruction and chess instructors in some key Canadian markets which is a requirement if we hope to increase the popularity of chess.

                  Same question as the FQE. What does the CFC offer in this relationship?
                  A gateway to FIDE, customers for Strategy and Games, access to deals on DGT boards and clocks when DGT has a promotion through FIDE. I think the relationship with the CMA hasn't been better in a very long time.


                  Identify and help expand the number of local champions (organizers) to step forward for the game in all major population centers to run tournaments, found chess clubs (especially junior chess clubs) and chess teaching programs to help increase the popularity of chess

                  Same question. If someone wants to do this, they can already do it without the CFC for a lower cost. What is the CFC providing in terms of benefit?
                  We are providing a rating system and a window to the world of FIDE events. No one has to run a CFC event but most don't take unrated events very seriously.

                  Providing outstanding member service and improve communications with our members.

                  How is this being funded?
                  Through memberships and rating fees.

                  Increase visibility and enhance the image of chess and chess players.

                  Chess and chess players have a very highly ingrained image in the non chess world. I would say the image of chess is fairly positive, and the image of chess players is shaded to the negative.
                  I don't believe that is true. The negative is often emphasized on Chesstalk and we do have our share of kooks here but we also have many serious people who are very successful.

                  The CFC has no competencies associated with being able to change these impressions on any kind of scale.
                  We just have to get out there and talk to people and tell our story. It doesn't take much to turn things around. It may take longer than we would like but things are moving in the right direction.


                  This kind of statement to me is completely useless as it gives the impression that something has been done, when in fact nothing has been done. The only action points involved are either vague or lacking in realistic strategy or scope.
                  Strategic plans tend to be vague. They necessarily concentrate on the thirty thousand foot view.

                  We have some good people who are making good decisions and moving this ship forward. If we had more good people, we could move forward more quickly.
                  Last edited by Vlad Drkulec; Friday, 10th May, 2019, 10:53 AM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by John Brown View Post
                    Assuming you have approx 1000 members who pay a yearly fee.Why not just offer the current membership a one time deal if you'd like to get a Life membership for say $350.00. I'd think that rather than the CFC guessing whether a guy will renew their membership you can get a big hit early and those whom decide to give up chess you still make money.
                    I really don't know why the CFC thinks people will be return client when you offer nothing except rating games. Start giving the membership a reason to come back and maybe the membership will grow.
                    John, if you are over sixty or so we already do this. A CFC life membership is $360.

                    http://chess.ca/membership-rates#Rates

                    Whatever we do has to make sense fiscally.
                    Last edited by Vlad Drkulec; Thursday, 9th May, 2019, 11:27 PM.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by David Ottosen View Post
                      Sorry, but this statement is just a wish list of things that would be nice. It ignores most of the realities related to an organization like the CFC. Let me give examples:

                      . . .

                      Obtain sponsorships both corporate and government

                      I've said this before and I'll say it again. When you approach someone for money, you can either ask for an investment (in which you are asking for money and offering an expected return) or you ask for charity (in which you ask for money with no expectation of return other than goodwill). The CFC persists in considering that they are asking for an investment or sponsorship, when any logically thinking business sees money to the CFC as charity. As a result, there is complete failure because they are approaching their request in the wrong manner.

                      Cooperation with Chess and Math Association (CMA) in junior chess. The CMA is uniquely positioned to support the CFC in that they already have an infrastructure of programs of chess instruction and chess instructors in some key Canadian markets which is a requirement if we hope to increase the popularity of chess.

                      Same question as the FQE. What does the CFC offer in this relationship?

                      Identify and help expand the number of local champions (organizers) to step forward for the game in all major population centers to run tournaments, found chess clubs (especially junior chess clubs) and chess teaching programs to help increase the popularity of chess

                      Same question. If someone wants to do this, they can already do it without the CFC for a lower cost. What is the CFC providing in terms of benefit?

                      . . .
                      The relationship with Chess'Math is an example of how the CFC will promote their sponsors. Are there banner ads for CMA on the CFC website? On the websites of clubs that buy books and equipment from Strategy Games? Such links would raise the Strategy Games ranking on Google. Strategy Games ads on tournament flyers and posted at tournament sites? Emails to CFC members of Strategy Games sales?

                      CMA has done outreach in building up their Canadian Chess Challenge. Does the CFC have a national chess in schools program? It's perhaps easier to find funding for junior education charities. Curriculum for a 8-week program for beginners (perhaps developed by CMA)? Certification of teachers in the chess curriculum? A network of teachers that is forwarded to local schools? A national school tour by Olympiad team members? Free chess sets (paid by sponsor) to isolated schools?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I believe John mentioned elsewhere that he is already a CFC Life Member.

                        There was a lot of confusion around whether CFC Life Members have to pay provincial dues - when I was OCA Treasurer, I believe Bob Armstrong asked the OCA about that and I think he paid the OCA a relatively modest "life OCA dues" but I cannot recall the amount.

                        I think that is still an open question - as noted elsewhere, most provincial associations are not very active or even functional.
                        ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Erik Malmsten View Post
                          Does the CFC have a national chess in schools program?
                          I would be interested if any organization has a national program at schools. I have impression that even curriculums are different in all provinces.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Hi Kerry: your memory is good.......I did purchase at the time an "OCA Life Membership"......but at that time the records were in bad shape, and I don't know if the OCA even knew how many life members they had, or if they had any list.

                            I did it to support my provincial organization. At that time I was already a "CFC Life Member (from 1965!)" and no one ever indicated I still had to pay any annual OCA dues - so, like many Ontario CFC Life Members, I didn't really need to take out an OCA Life Membership at all.

                            I don't know if OCA today collects annual OCA dues from CFC Life Members ........ anyone know??

                            Bob A

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post

                              I would be interested if any organization has a national program at schools. I have impression that even curriculums are different in all provinces.
                              Education is a provincial ministry, and local boards have their differences.
                              But googling found national sports coaching, which are models of where chess should end up:

                              http://www.tenniscanada.com/communit...s-for-schools/

                              https://www.coach.ca/

                              http://www.coachesontario.ca/nccp-training/

                              https://www.ofsaa.on.ca/programs/coa...sion-ed-course

                              http://www.csicalgary.ca/coaching/na...cation-program

                              http://sportforlife.ca/resources/qua...port-programs/

                              http://www.schoolsport.ca/

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