[BrianWall-ChessList] When an Organization Goes Stagnant by Chris Peterson

[Brian Wall]

Chris Peterson -

----- Forwarded message from Chris Peterson <garrensilverwing at yahoo.com> -----
    Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 17:46:42 -0800 (PST)
    From: Chris Peterson <garrensilverwing at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Chris Peterson <garrensilverwing at yahoo.com>
 Subject: When an Organization Goes Stagnant
      To: Brian Wall <brianwallchess3 at taom.com>

Here are a few things the DCC says they would like to do in their mission
statement:

   “Extend the role of chess in the culture of the city of Denver and its
neighboring communities”

  “Promote the study and knowledge of the game of chess”

  “Offer, to the general public, weekly chess classes to educate the public in
the rules and tactics of the game”

  “Maintain a body of chess players competitive with other states and other
national and international tournament play”

  “Charity, whether in the form of chess sets donated to area schools, or
donations of time to give lessons to youth and adult players alike”

  “It is the purpose and intention of the Denver Chess Club to set an exemplary
standard in the community and to welcome all inquiries for assistance towards
establishing chess programs whenever and wherever such help is requested”

  The Denver Chess Club (DCC) has seen good times and bad, fun times and sad
times, prosperous times and destitute times.  Right now the club is in a dismal
state.  Attendance is low and the overall strength of the club has gone down,
considerably.   Even though a surge of newcomers have come visiting the club in
recently they have been turned away not by anyone in particular or by rudeness
on the club’s part but by the sheer boredom one experiences when visiting the
club.  High fees to participate in the only chess related activity turns any
interest off immediately.  The DCC needs to step out of its shell and actually
reach out to its community as the mission statement says it will.

  The problems of the DCC are fairly simple.  Everyone who attends is content
with playing the same people every month, month after month.  The attempts to
bring in new people are both excellent and foolproof but the contentment of the
club attendees as well as the high fees does not keep the people long.  The
evidence is the weak core of strong players.  Steve Towbin, Robert Ramirez,
Tyler Hughes and others were all visitors to the club on a regular basis but
the prospect of playing the same low rated players every month made their stay
as short-lived as is was boring.  You may argue that they never played in the
“slow chess”.  Which is true and the reason is clear there is no profit in
playing in the slow chess.  The monthly tournaments are dismal and mind-numbing
which is why they opted to play in the blitz tournaments held weekly.  So it is
my belief that a step in the right direction a step towards increasing the
club’s attendance and its strength is to bring the blitz
 back!  Speed games spark interest in newcomers and the low cost to play weekly
makes them want to come back and/or play in the tournament.  Furthermore,
because you do not need to be a member of neither the United States Chess
Federation (USCF) nor the DCC the cost to play is minimal.

  The club recently (within a year) started offering free chess lectures.  These
lectures helped improve the quality of play of the club members as well as gave
incentive for newcomers to stay and learn.  The lectures have all but stopped. 
Whether due to people’s lack of interest or for another reason they stopped very
suddenly and as far as I know they will not be starting anytime soon.  It was
the only attempt at “promoting the study and knowledge of the game of chess”
that I have witnessed during all my visits to the chess club.  These lectures
were a good thing!   They need to be started again but this time with a
stronger, more enthusiastic lecturer such as NM Brian Wall.   It is of
paramount importance that the club brings back these lectures so that a new
wave of knowledge can break over the club and spark life back into the gloomy
ambience, because it is this atmosphere that drives potential members away.

  Similar to the lectures the club used to offer, I suggest the club sponsors
members to travel to local scholastic clubs to teach and mentor the students
there.  This can promote chess in the schools as well as bring new members to
our clubs.   This can be accomplished by either having a prepared lesson for
the club or just having a simultaneous exhibition at the school.  The clubs
goal is to “extend the role of chess in the culture of the city of Denver and
its neighboring communities” and the crutch of every community is their
schools.  So by reaching to the schools we can simultaneously reach into the
communities.

  The DCC’s ability to “maintain a body of chess players competitive with other
states and other national and international tournament play” is displayed by
its failure to collaborate with local area clubs.  The DCC takes no part in any
kind of league set up by the other clubs which is practically the only way for
the clubs to work together.  So the DCC needs to take the initiative and
organize a league type event.  This could be a series of events where the top
four rated players OR four elected players from each club play against each
other similar to what the scholastic clubs do.  This could be a cooperative
arrangement between the largest clubs in the state such as the DCC, the Boulder
Chess Club, the Colorado Springs Chess Club, and the Fort Collins Chess Club. 
Events like these with harbor friendly competitiveness such as the professional
sport leagues do.  In order for the DCC to reach international or even national
levels it needs to learn to work within its own
 state first.

  In summary, I believe the DCC needs to start establishing its own chess
programs in order to follow its own mission statement.  Waiting for programs to
spring up in the community is time consuming frivolous.  Some of my ideas here
are for the DCC’s own chess programs which will help promote the club’s well
being.  By offering our own chess programs we can hope to inspire similar
programs across the state or even the country which we can then give aid to. 
It is the Denver Chess Club’s duty to start these programs, or similar ones,
immediately the future of the club as well as Colorado chess may hang in the
balance.

  Ideas improving the Denver Chess Club


   Improve the Denver Chess Club Website!!!
   Have chess variant tournaments (Bughouse, Fischer Random, Losers)
      Adds more variety and fun to the club

   Collaborate with other local chess clubs and the CSCA (Boulder Colorado
Springs Ft Collins)
      Creates a friendly competitive atmosphere between cities
      Creates more interest in Colorado Chess

   Stretch DCC advertising to schools in specific
      Offer lessons and classes to local scholastic chess clubs
      Increases membership as parents and kids get interested
      Increases revenue
      Increases club membership and ultimately strength of club

   Give incentives for stronger players to come
      Improves overall strength of club
      Gets more outsiders interested

   Better advertising and Tournament structure
      Get more people interested
      Less people disappointed about the tournament
         Turn outs and prize funds


   Increase entry fees for DCC tournaments
      Increase revenues for the DCC
      Increase prize fund
      Increase competitiveness

   Offer better prizes for winners of tournaments
      Increases competitiveness
      May increase attendance for tournaments
         Free entry into next similar tournament
         Trophies or plaques for tournament winners
         Free entry into next DCC sponsored event


   Open a “chess store” through the DCC
      Increases revenue
      Gives players access to inexpensive state-of-the art materials

   Have regularly scheduled quad tournaments
      Gives players an option not playing every Tuesday night
      Gives the players more variety in time controls

   Offer an occasional simultaneous exhibition (or material odds blitz) with a
strong players (such as Brian Wall Tyler Hughes or Robert Ramirez)
      Gives the players a chance at variety in their play
      Gives the players a chance to defeat a strong player

   Offer weekly lectures with a strong player
      Improves the overall strength of play
      Offers more incentive for new members to join

   Bring the blitz back
      Gets the higher rated players more interested and more likely to come
      More variety and choice in time control
      Opens a more casual atmosphere for new comers who like to watch
faster-paced games



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