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A number of years ago, when the internet allowed players to get their chess fix online, local chess clubs suffered....however I believe we have come full circle and now the local chess club is stronger than we have seen in the last decade.
The chess clubs I am most familiar with are doing very well thank you. The Scarborough and the Mississauga Chess Clubs (both in Toronto suburbia) are talking about record attendance...the new Annex club (downtown Toronto) is drawing extremely well, the R.A. club in Ottawa hardly noticed the internet over the years :) and in Montreal, the Montreal Chess Club draws 50 - 60 players every Wednesday evening, the Ahuntsic Chess Club is alive and well and Cafe Pi...a coffee house (owned by a chess enthusiast) open to chessplayers 7 days a week, continues to draw a good enthusiastic gang.
Are there other chess clubs out there that can tell us how they are doing?
How do you explain the return of the local chess club in Canada....or are these examples not consistant with the overall picture?
Your opinions on this and also why...the local chess club seems to be coming back.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
Still a long way from the Fischer boom (at least in Montreal) - team tournaments in Montreal in the 1972-74 era had 15-20 different clubs represented (and today there are only three - the two Larry mentioned (and one cafe), plus the Lakeshore Chess Club).
...the R.A. club in Ottawa hardly noticed the internet over the years :) ...
Larry
Not sure I agree with that. I visited the RA club after the Canadian Open this year and the median age of the club attendance has dropped by something like 20-25 years with total membership comparable to or at the the low end of the normal range of when I lived in Ottawa just 6 years ago. So really, the club is much different in just the last few years.
Although the Victoria Club has been brought back from the nearly dead I think that is more a matter of active organizers than any indicator of social change. It's also not what I think of as the traditional club with a serious game scheduled every week, more of a come and play some blitz kind of place with some active games thrown in.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
The London Chess Club has about 40 players out every week. We get a lot of new people regularly who have played internet chess and want to now try their skills over the board.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
Yes and no. At times, the Calgary club swells only to dip back down. Our website and promotions bring in many new faces but it's tough to keep them coming back. In a city with over 1 million, I would hope for more regular players, still searching for the right formula.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
On a very small sample, 50% of my adult chess class has joined or is about to join a chess club.The socialization and otb chess are the big draws for them.
Not sure I agree with that. I visited the RA club after the Canadian Open this year and the median age of the club attendance has dropped by something like 20-25 years with total membership comparable to or at the the low end of the normal range of when I lived in Ottawa just 6 years ago. So really, the club is much different in just the last few years.
Roger is right. The Ottawa RA Chess Club remains active with competitive play every Thursday and casual play on Sunday afternoons. The numbers are down from what I remember in the heyday of the 60s and 70s but have held steady over a number of years. The composition has changed dramatically. When I first dropped by in the early 60s (!) I was the youngest player there at 18 years old and the club was populated by "old white guys" with a large number from Russia and eastern Europe. Today, a handful of the old guard remain and keep the show going but more than a quarter of our members are youngsters, predominantly Asian (of Chinese or Indian descent), who tend to cycle through the club until the end of high school at which point they move on to other things (as admittedly I did 40+ years ago). A lot of these kids have come through Chess'n Math (thanks, Larry) and are active on the internet. Some of them have achieved a very high level, e.g. our club champion two years running, Joey Qin. At the top end, the IMs tend to stay away, perhaps concerned about putting their ratings on the line against the young wizards.
We also benefit from several special events, e.g. the Alexei Shirov and Nigel Short simuls and lectures, plus strong weekend tournaments run by Aris Marghetis, the EOCA president.
In all, I would say the RA club as it enters its 60s is alive and well.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
Hi,
There are always people looking to play over the board chess. Before the Annex Chess Club opened about a year ago, Hart House's University of Toronto Chess Club would get a significant number of random people looking to play chess, without us advertising anything or deliberately opening up to the public.
People were in general welcome to join us for casual chess and some still come around. This has decreased significantly since the Annex Chess Club opened, but still happens, and happened even before Hart House started to organize open tournaments to the public.
Were there more people before, during the Fischer boom or prior to Internet? Maybe but, in Toronto at least, there is very much a crowd and clubs are a must over the Internet still, for many people of all ages and background.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
I think many clubs are still a long way from membership levels of decades ago. Especially those in rural areas that struggle to maintain a critical mass. The clubs we have heard from seem to have two things in common, they are from the larger population centres and who have embraced the youth movement. Clubs that depend on the dwindling numbers from the Fischer boom years are still struggling.
Mississauga club did have a steep drop off in memberships. We used to get up to 50+ players a week, then it dropped to sometimes single digits. We started our youth program several years ago, and our numbers are now up. We get anywhere from 50-90 kids (depending on the season) weekly for the junior club and the stronger ones are now joining the adult club. Our most recent adult club tournament was 50% graduates from the junior club.
We do get the occasional new or returning adult member, but the real growth has been the junior program. Also, we do pick up a few parents as members, bonus. :D
... At the top end, the IMs tend to stay away, perhaps concerned about putting their ratings on the line against the young wizards. ...
I wonder if any chess club in Canada has a GM or IM that plays in it regularly. FWIW, I have never been a member of the RACC, not even before the "junior invasion". ;-)
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
I'm not sure how this is a club but rather a series of fast time control tournaments with cash prizes (not that there is anything at all wrong with the latter, imo). Could you explain the difference?
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
Re: Is the local chess club becoming popular again?
I guess any time two or more people meet anywhere to play chess it's a club? I am pretty sure that if there were no cash prizes there would be no IMs at this "club", eh? ;-)
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
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