cathexis wrote on 02/27/22 at 14:25:01:


I can relate to much of this and have written about it in recent posts of mine here. Even in the NYC/NJ area, it takes a bit of effort and travel expenses to regularly play in enough games to work on your rating. And the only FIDE venue within any reasonable distance (several hours) is in Manhattan. So, if you're outside of the city it's already a nightmare option. 

I have to settle for mostly quads and swiss's with a time control of like 35/5d to 60/5d. What absolutely amazes me is the lack of attention span in the younger generations today. I'm only 40 and it's like they're from another planet. I remember people playing games on their consoles and PC for *days* straight at times back in the day. Now? Some of these kids think a 10/0 is the perfect time control and anything else is too long. I just don't get how they can think a game of chess is played out with a mere few seconds of thought per move. Even if you give them 60-90 minutes on the clock, they'll just zerg out all of their moves like it's a 3/0.

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FWIW, I just think this is so well put. I would suggest that the loss of attention issue runs much deeper than those overpriced toys called cell phones. Nevertheless, what you describe certainly echos my thoughts as well. As for travel and OTB competition, I envy the European striving for an IM title (not that I expect to ever be a IM). As an American in the mid-Atlantic it is a minimum 600 miles to Montreal and 1,400 plus straight line to Jamaica. Boy! wouldn't it be great to be Swiss and be able to earn an IM via your car or by easy access eurorail. Hahaha.

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 02/26/22 at 18:57:09:


People who says things like that do not have reading comprehension. While I know you didn't read I was an organizer and a TD. I would also mention I was a delegate (another fact you won't read). The delegates do not vote with the best interests of the members in mind. They vote with the interest of their private small chess related business in mind. This is why none of the funding ever goes to where it should. While it is nice to blame the State organizations, it is not correct. The USCF makes most of its money from the kids scholastic championships and so that is the only thing it cares about. Once you're 18, you may as well not exist in the USCF eyes which is why its managed to shrink its membership base a shocking 75% during covid. Without Rex, there would not be a US Championship, a Senior Championship, a Women's championship, a girls Championship, a Junior Championship, an Olympiad team and we certainly wouldn't have such an influx of talented GMs switching Federations. Basically the entirety of the US's growth is due to donors like Rex and the Sam Ford Scholarship and the bequests from rich people's Will. The USCF as it is not sustainable and it never will be. So giving an inept organization like this money is never and will never be high on my priority list.

I was just thinking about this topic this morning and surprised to find this thread! So thank you.

I don't know what the future of OTB chess looks like especially in the US. For a long time, US chess has been in trouble. USCF is one of the worst organizations in existence. The number of organizers and TDS continues to dwindle. The entry fees go up and the prizes go down. The main organizer, Bill Goichberg, wife, Brenda, just passed away and no one yet knows what this means for the future of the CCA. The 2-3 classical games in a day is a very tiring format. And then we have the issue that hotels and spaces were continuing to get too expensive for most organizers pre covid anyways. Now post covid... masks? vaccination policies? and perhaps even needing to have higher business insurance standards for the spaces you use... I just don't have the answer to these questions.

I know the USCF lost close to 75% of its membership base, including me a former organizer and TD, because unlike all other fee based membership organizations - they refused to pause their membership clock for covid with no events going on at all for almost 2 years. Their pathetic argument was there is online rated events so that counts as the full benefit of your membership!! Except with places like Lichess... why would I ever pay even 2 cents for a USCF membership for online chess? I can play for free.

I do miss classical OTB chess and I can't be the only one as the National Open had record attendance. A few cities like Dallas and Indianapolis never stopped holding tournaments and had record attendance at almost all events including record number of States coming to the tournament.

I think I agree partly with Yip that who knows what new friends you'll meet. But there is also this beauty to being all on your own lost in deep thought and focus that I feel our society as a whole is losing largely thanks to smartphones that break our concentration every 30 seconds.

But for me, the other part of OTB chess was the travel associated... like going to the Bangkok Open or the London Chess Classic...

I don't know what the future of classical chess looks like but I think it is forever changed.

When reading the posts in this thread, I have the feeling it depends on where you live. Here in Germany (and I guess it is true for our neighbors as well), Classical chess was always THE big thing and every classical tournament that has been organized since the start of COVID was sold out months before the start. Blitz and Rapid are nice, but it will not replace Classical chess -especially OTB.

In some other countries, Classical chess was never super popular and weirdly organized, so I fully understand why some people made shorter time controls their priority. But those who preferred Classical chess before the pandemic will certainly do the same once the pandemic is over.

Personally, I love playing at home, even semi-serious chess. Chess venues are often absolutely horrible dingy spaces, and I'd have to commute as well; prefer my study, with my own drinks, own snacks to hand etc. Obviously, that isn't to everyone's taste, but I think it's a natural growth avenue, especially as time controls inevitably(?) speed up.

Even though I belong to a local USCF-affiliated chess club, since I joined after COVID I have yet to play a single OTB game with any club member or attend a single in-person meeting. Despite that, I still see the local club (like the old idea of the Coffeehouse) as the most fundamental definition of playing both friendlies and rated chess. I do not like travelling and so if I ever were to get good at chess that would be a serious limitation on making progress and I would see some version of Hybrid chess as perhaps worthwhile.

As always -thank you!

I meant more than idea than the Pegasus unit itself. In way not all that different from when Bobby Fischer played Cuba via telex, IIRC.