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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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Since I am fairly new to Canada, can someone explain to me what is included with membership? Is it a magazine, (I thought I saw someone say the print edition had been cancelled?) or anything else in particular?
Ben, good luck becoming world champion, you are gonna need it...
Firstly, in case you haven't been made aware, you'll receive a free life membership.
Secondly, for the majority, membership equates to having a rating. The magazine has been cancelled and I believe the CFC will soon stop selling books and equipment. For males rated between 2100 and 2500, it means you get to observe your trifling-ass national federation waste thousands of dollars sending adults who are worse than you overseas. I'd rant, but I want to leave work in a couple of minutes to catch an early Seabus. I'll rant on Monday.
Thirdly, I may never become a world champion chess player, but there are tonnes* of other activities of which I may become world champion. Shotput? Maybe. Yodelling? Probably. Posting stupid shit on chess message boards? TWO-TIME DEFENDING CHAMP.
*it is not actually possible to weigh a number of activities
everytime it hurts, it hurts just like the first (and then you cry till there's no more tears)
Firstly, in case you haven't been made aware, you'll receive a free life membership.
Secondly, for the majority, membership equates to having a rating. The magazine has been cancelled and I believe the CFC will soon stop selling books and equipment. For males rated between 2100 and 2500, it means you get to observe your trifling-ass national federation waste thousands of dollars sending adults who are worse than you overseas. I'd rant, but I want to leave work in a couple of minutes to catch an early Seabus. I'll rant on Monday.
Thirdly, I may never become a world champion chess player, but there are tonnes* of other activities of which I may become world champion. Shotput? Maybe. Yodelling? Probably. Posting stupid shit on chess message boards? TWO-TIME DEFENDING CHAMP.
*it is not actually possible to weigh a number of activities
Enough with the new-fangled metric crap ... the expression is "TONS" of something! ;)
Thirdly, I may never become a world champion chess player, but there are tonnes* of other activities of which I may become world champion. Shotput? Maybe. Yodelling? Probably. Posting stupid shit on chess message boards? TWO-TIME DEFENDING CHAMP.
*it is not actually possible to weigh a number of activities
Why aspire to be champion of the planet? The Inner Galactic Chess Federation will offer the championship of the planets. :)
Hopefully things can change in Canada soon, but who knows. Either way, the bottom line is that in order for chess to become really successful on the continent, it is likely someone will have to become World Champion.
After Fischer won the world championship, in the next couple of seasons the over the board club gained a lot of members. After that I started organizing for the correspondence CCCA. Our membership drives were very successful. The organization membership pretty much doubled in the next 10 years and the events had excellent participation. A postal Canadian Open had slightly more than 400 entrants. I think Jonathan was also seeing increasing membership for the CFC. Many players were playing both versions of the game and I think the CFC president of the day understood the healthy relationship between the two organizations.
When the then new CFC model stated in the early 70's there was a sponsor. From my observation, the CFC president of the day worked well with the sponsor. These days there doesn't seem to be a sponsor who puts expenses through his company.
I don't know what would be considered a "very good living" from teaching scholastic chess. Someone at the seniors club once asked me if I was interested in teaching chess in a school. I think he'd had enough so I asked what it paid. It was chump change and he said the parents could be a pain. I didn't need the money and I didn't want the aggrevation.
It looks to me like the CFC isn't doing all that well with converting junior members to senior members. I would do it different. To ensure eligibility for funding to international event I'd want the players to have continuous CFC membership for the years they were eligible to play. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask player to maintain continuous membership.
A lot of good players in Canada came out of the training programs of European nations or were trained by players or instructors from those programs.
I don't see any great level of sponsorship for chess in Canada unless things change. When a person or company foots the bills they get to call some of the shots. Failing that, the relationship tends to be of short duration.
European Models: In Europe, there are several big advantages as opposed to North America, first of all chess has a much longer and richer tradition. One thing which I can almost NEVER find in either Canada or the US is multiple rich benefactors or sponsors behind teams, whereas when one looks at the leagues (Bundesliga,French,Spanish) the better clubs probably shell out about $3k a match when there are usually 10-11 games which is $30k. Based on what I know from having played in Europe and on a few clubs now, they all charge low fees to members and get substantial funding from either sponsors or the local governments (proof that socialism is better).
There's an important detail that should be added here. European chess relies, at least in part, on sports clubs. These clubs may have a soccer team, a swim team (say), and a chess team. The economies of scale make chess more successful in such an environment. Chess is one part of a bigger picture. We do not have the same sports club phenomenon here in Canada.
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
Hey, sorry, I was not able to respond to Ben's great rant yet since I was actually playing a game in a tournament in Japan. As far as moving to Canada goes, we'll see about that. Putting that aside, I am looking at apartments (to buy)in downtown Vancouver, as well as moving forward with the plan on permanent residency. If all goes well, I will play board for Canada by the time of the next olympiad...
Vancouver is a VERY expensive place in which to buy property. Look at this chart (although it refers to detached housing) - an average Vancouver house costs almost four times as one does in Montreal.
Ok, well where to start. Gary, when I refer to a good living I speak in the $100-150k range. I have serious doubts that there is such money anywhere for scholastic chess besides the United States, but I do know that people do make this kind of money in New York specifically.
Nigel, you do have a point when it comes to these clubs having other sports-related outfits as well. I guess that it is just very nice that I can go to Europe,play in these leagues, and make money from them since there definitely will never be such phenomenons anywhere but Europe! But surely there must be some lesson to learn from this model, I would think.
As for Hugh, I know quite well that Vancouver is not the cheapest place in the world to live. If I wanted to live for cheap, I'd go buy myself a lot of land and build a house in Newfoundland! I am simply looking at apartments, not actual houses (the average house in Vancouver is over 1M now). That being said, it is hard not to love the downtown area since it is so well located.
Well, I better get some sleep now since it is going on 10 PM and I have a round at 9 AM tomorrow... (finally back over 2700).
I guess that it is just very nice that I can go to Europe,play in these leagues, and make money from them since there definitely will never be such phenomenons anywhere but Europe! But surely there must be some lesson to learn from this model, I would think.
With respect, I think one lesson is that it may not simply be a question of having a World Chess Champion from North America to change things here. Of course that would help. Botvinnik in his famous book, 100 Selected Games, observed the necessity that chess have both great players and great organizers to be a successful sport. We still trivialize the importance of the latter far too often and wonder about the lack of the former. I don't think it's any great mystery. Our winner take all culture impoverishes us all.
Edited to add: That was a little clumsy. What I mean is that great organizers and chess organization in general need more recognition and reward. Or something like that.
Last edited by Nigel Hanrahan; Saturday, 16th August, 2008, 01:02 PM.
Reason: clumsiness
Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.
Hey, sorry, I was not able to respond to Ben's great rant yet since I was actually playing a game in a tournament in Japan. As far as moving to Canada goes, we'll see about that. Putting that aside, I am looking at apartments (to buy)in downtown Vancouver, as well as moving forward with the plan on permanent residency. If all goes well, I will play board for Canada by the time of the next olympiad...
That would be nice. Of course, you and Magnus and a few others are the prodogies of your generation. Greatness awaits.
It's unfortunate Canada offers so little opportunity.
Ok, well where to start. Gary, when I refer to a good living I speak in the $100-150k range. I have serious doubts that there is such money anywhere for scholastic chess besides the United States, but I do know that people do make this kind of money in New York specifically.
As for Hugh, I know quite well that Vancouver is not the cheapest place in the world to live. If I wanted to live for cheap, I'd go buy myself a lot of land and build a house in Newfoundland! I am simply looking at apartments, not actual houses (the average house in Vancouver is over 1M now). That being said, it is hard not to love the downtown area since it is so well located.
I didn't know anyone was making that much from scholastic chess.
Newfoundland is nice. My wife is from there and I've visited many times but not in recent years. The pace of life seems slower than in the big cities. It's nice in the summer but can be harsh in the winter. Lots of snow and storms.
If you get used to the pace in Newfoundland you'll probably throw away your chess board and pick up a fishing rod to go out every day in a boat. Some of those fish make what you find in B.C. look like minnows. :)
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