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Re: Possible future CFC goal: foster mega-clubs
Miss Yuan is taking what might be regarded the best first step by having founded a chess club just for girls (see her thread on chesstalk elsewhere). More such girls clubs could follow, and if eventually chess becomes nearly as popular with girls as with boys than the possible need for girls only clubs might gradually disappear.
At a young age some girls might be hesitant to beat the boys (or a brother) at a game/sport like chess. One young brother-sister pair who were at the RA club for a brief period happened to play each other in a tournament game beside mine. The brother appeared to be nervous the whole game. Towards the end of the game the sister was winning quite handily. Suddenly she told her brother that the position was a stalemate, when it seemed quite plain that it was not. Then the two packed up the pieces, recorded the draw, and went home. I can't recall if I saw them much after that.
One game where there is no problem getting the ladies to participate is Bridge, of course. There is no question of methodically hunting down the other fellows' poor King, after optionally wreaking havoc on his position. Instead there are just 13 tricks to play in a hand, and then it's on to the next round. In between rounds the players can socialize, in a time sooner than for what it takes for a round to finish in a slow time control chess tournament.
There is the partnership aspect of the Bridge too. If there were more double-chess events then maybe more ladies might participate at least in those - or dare I say, perhaps double-chess ought to become the new standard, replacing ordinary chess for the most part!? Another approach would be to have more chess team events.
Another possible factor that may deter the ladies from joining the chess-playing ranks in greater numbers is the geek factor often associated with chess. However most male chessplayers do at least seem to have a well-developed sense of humour, rather like soldiers apparently have (you need it, in order to endure the sometimes grisly defeats that fate has in store). At the least this factor might be played upon to attract more ladies to chess, if there is more advertising of the game and brief anecdotes of (typical?) humour could possibly be highlighted.
Originally posted by Paul Beckwith
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At a young age some girls might be hesitant to beat the boys (or a brother) at a game/sport like chess. One young brother-sister pair who were at the RA club for a brief period happened to play each other in a tournament game beside mine. The brother appeared to be nervous the whole game. Towards the end of the game the sister was winning quite handily. Suddenly she told her brother that the position was a stalemate, when it seemed quite plain that it was not. Then the two packed up the pieces, recorded the draw, and went home. I can't recall if I saw them much after that.
One game where there is no problem getting the ladies to participate is Bridge, of course. There is no question of methodically hunting down the other fellows' poor King, after optionally wreaking havoc on his position. Instead there are just 13 tricks to play in a hand, and then it's on to the next round. In between rounds the players can socialize, in a time sooner than for what it takes for a round to finish in a slow time control chess tournament.
There is the partnership aspect of the Bridge too. If there were more double-chess events then maybe more ladies might participate at least in those - or dare I say, perhaps double-chess ought to become the new standard, replacing ordinary chess for the most part!? Another approach would be to have more chess team events.
Another possible factor that may deter the ladies from joining the chess-playing ranks in greater numbers is the geek factor often associated with chess. However most male chessplayers do at least seem to have a well-developed sense of humour, rather like soldiers apparently have (you need it, in order to endure the sometimes grisly defeats that fate has in store). At the least this factor might be played upon to attract more ladies to chess, if there is more advertising of the game and brief anecdotes of (typical?) humour could possibly be highlighted.
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