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Article published in the Toronto Chess News ( TCN ), Issue # 1-3, October 1, 2012, and posted on the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) Facebook chess discussion page, " CCC - Chess Posts of Interest " :
Chess Promotion and the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC )
( by Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator )
CCC took its current form as an international organization in the Spring of 2012 ( April 8 ). It had 6 members at the time, who adopted its new Constitution on April 20, 2012. Subsequently two of the members decided on less involvement, and moved from being “ members “ to joining the CCC group of “ supporters “. This left four members to launch the “ new “ organization on its path – Ken Kurkowski ( Canada ), Abbey Elo ( Ghana ), Joe Fatula ( USA ), and Bob Armstrong ( Canada – CCC Coordinator ).
The primary focus of the CCC is chess promotion through chess discussion and debate. To this end, the new CCC took over management of a Facebook chess discussion page being operated by the predecessor organization, but which had been languishing more than operating. CCC breathed new life into it. First of all, the members started posting on a regular 2 week basis at minimum ( the “ official “ member post ). This was to get interesting topics for discussion into the public realm, and to prevent the board from being “ quiet “ for too long a time. Then it focused on growing the membership of the board – getting more “ Likes “ in Facebook terms. It grew from around 150 Likes initially, to about 500 Likes, and it now stands at an all-time record of 604 Likes. And also CCC sought to diversify its “ Likes “. Since the predecessor organization had been Canadian, the first majority of “ Likes “ were, as expected, Canadian. But with expansion, “ Likes “ were brought in from around the world: Pakistan, India, USA, Mexico, Venezuela, France, the Philippines, etc. The result is now a vast multi-cultural pool of chess players, and those interested in chess, as a possible discussion group on all aspects of chess – personalities, history, play, tournaments, etc. It is a fact of life on Facebook, however, that most are “ recipients “ – they are pleased to see “ news “ from their friends and groups in their “ news feed “, and read much of it. But it is also true that very few “ post/comment “, and those that do, often post somewhat regularly. So it is somewhat of an uphill battle, to draw our “ Likes “ into posting and commenting on any regular, or even sporadic basis. But it has been coming, with the encouragement of the CCC members, who try to post/comment on a regular basis, and to raise topical issues in the chess world. On average, the CCC board, “ CCC – Chess Posts of Interest ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/coope...hesscoalition/ ), will discuss about 20-25 topics/month.
But CCC has a second goal, which it considers as important as its first one above – that is moderate chess reform action. The chess discussion board is the mechanism for raising chess reform issues, and attempting to get feedback and input. If the topic garners sufficient interest and support, then CCC will take the issue under advisement, re some type of possible reform action. The issue is canvassed among the CCC members and supporters first of all. Then when general comments have been received, the second phase of decision making is for the four “ voting members “ to discuss the action further, and to vote on its adoption by the CCC. A policy paper on the issue is then developed, and at this point it then goes back to the discussion board for input from the large multi-country pool of Likes. After that, the paper will be posted anywhere that it may generate publicity for the issue/action. At this point, the CCC will then have a good idea of what is possible in terms of moderate reform action, and what public support it will get. These are early days still for the CCC, and it has not yet found an issue of broad public dissatisfaction that it might start to work on ( its predecessor organization did bring a couple of reform actions, some successful, some not, when it was a Canadian organization ). CCC sees a successful first goal above, as the key to a second successful goal of chess reform.
As mentioned, CCC does now have a formal “ Constitution “, and is in the process of adopting its second Policy Paper – CCC Program Overview. Its first policy paper, already adopted, is a “ Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ ) Sheet.” If anyone is interested in learning more about CCC, and would like to receive the CCC documents now publicly available, then please write to me, Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator, at: cooperativechesscoalition@gmail.com .
Chess Promotion and the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC )
( by Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator )
CCC took its current form as an international organization in the Spring of 2012 ( April 8 ). It had 6 members at the time, who adopted its new Constitution on April 20, 2012. Subsequently two of the members decided on less involvement, and moved from being “ members “ to joining the CCC group of “ supporters “. This left four members to launch the “ new “ organization on its path – Ken Kurkowski ( Canada ), Abbey Elo ( Ghana ), Joe Fatula ( USA ), and Bob Armstrong ( Canada – CCC Coordinator ).
The primary focus of the CCC is chess promotion through chess discussion and debate. To this end, the new CCC took over management of a Facebook chess discussion page being operated by the predecessor organization, but which had been languishing more than operating. CCC breathed new life into it. First of all, the members started posting on a regular 2 week basis at minimum ( the “ official “ member post ). This was to get interesting topics for discussion into the public realm, and to prevent the board from being “ quiet “ for too long a time. Then it focused on growing the membership of the board – getting more “ Likes “ in Facebook terms. It grew from around 150 Likes initially, to about 500 Likes, and it now stands at an all-time record of 604 Likes. And also CCC sought to diversify its “ Likes “. Since the predecessor organization had been Canadian, the first majority of “ Likes “ were, as expected, Canadian. But with expansion, “ Likes “ were brought in from around the world: Pakistan, India, USA, Mexico, Venezuela, France, the Philippines, etc. The result is now a vast multi-cultural pool of chess players, and those interested in chess, as a possible discussion group on all aspects of chess – personalities, history, play, tournaments, etc. It is a fact of life on Facebook, however, that most are “ recipients “ – they are pleased to see “ news “ from their friends and groups in their “ news feed “, and read much of it. But it is also true that very few “ post/comment “, and those that do, often post somewhat regularly. So it is somewhat of an uphill battle, to draw our “ Likes “ into posting and commenting on any regular, or even sporadic basis. But it has been coming, with the encouragement of the CCC members, who try to post/comment on a regular basis, and to raise topical issues in the chess world. On average, the CCC board, “ CCC – Chess Posts of Interest ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/coope...hesscoalition/ ), will discuss about 20-25 topics/month.
But CCC has a second goal, which it considers as important as its first one above – that is moderate chess reform action. The chess discussion board is the mechanism for raising chess reform issues, and attempting to get feedback and input. If the topic garners sufficient interest and support, then CCC will take the issue under advisement, re some type of possible reform action. The issue is canvassed among the CCC members and supporters first of all. Then when general comments have been received, the second phase of decision making is for the four “ voting members “ to discuss the action further, and to vote on its adoption by the CCC. A policy paper on the issue is then developed, and at this point it then goes back to the discussion board for input from the large multi-country pool of Likes. After that, the paper will be posted anywhere that it may generate publicity for the issue/action. At this point, the CCC will then have a good idea of what is possible in terms of moderate reform action, and what public support it will get. These are early days still for the CCC, and it has not yet found an issue of broad public dissatisfaction that it might start to work on ( its predecessor organization did bring a couple of reform actions, some successful, some not, when it was a Canadian organization ). CCC sees a successful first goal above, as the key to a second successful goal of chess reform.
As mentioned, CCC does now have a formal “ Constitution “, and is in the process of adopting its second Policy Paper – CCC Program Overview. Its first policy paper, already adopted, is a “ Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ ) Sheet.” If anyone is interested in learning more about CCC, and would like to receive the CCC documents now publicly available, then please write to me, Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator, at: cooperativechesscoalition@gmail.com .