Re: The Future of Chess and Getting It "Unstuck"

On Apr 3, 6:28 pm, Chris Mattern <sys...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On 2008-04-03, richardhut...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 <richardhut...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > On Apr 3, 4:24 pm, Guy Macon <http://www.guymacon.com/>
wrote:
> >> richardhut...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:
> >> >As time is going on, the discontent with chess is growing.
>
> >> Evidence, please.
>
> > Read rec.games.chess.politics .  If this isn't a sign of discontent, I
> > don't know what is.  Chess Federations in North America are at risk of
>
> Political usenet group is swamped by flamewars.  Surely the end times
are
> upon us.

What other games on Usenet have a group ending in politics?  Does
poker have this?

> > You can go, "Oh that is just politics".  If Chess were functioning
> > correctly as a community at this point, do you think it would nearly
> > have the issues it has?
>
> You haven't yet shown it *has* any issues, other than pointing at Usenet
> flamewars, which are about as inevitable as sun coming up in the
morning.
> You seem to think that Chess in the past was free of cheating,
controversy
> and bitter denounciation.  That's an illusion created by distance.

The lawsuits aren't now part of usenet.  They operate out of here.
The past had these also, but it seemed to transcend those.  The likes
of the chess federations have less than 1% of the total number of
people who play the game, as members.  Chess was a game, in the past,
that was able to adopt and evolve.  Now all changes are locked into a
political system, where people who want certain changes are told to
leave the room, because what they have isn't chess.  Actually what
Chess is isn't what chess was when it migrated from the East into
Europe.  It actually had less mobility in the pieces.  If the
mentality of chess locked in its political climate where around today,
the Mad Queen wouldn't be anywhere, the bulk would argue it wrecked
the balance of the game, and those who liked it would of been told to
get lost.  Such a change would of labeled the person as mad as the
queen they were proposing.

> How much of a following?  Who?  What's the growth rate?  *Facts*, not
> vague pronouncements!

Do YOU have numbers on the growth rates?  How much do you see chess
growing worldwide.  Care to explain the state of the U.S Chess
Federation today?  Do you know the numbers on members joining?  The
only guaranteed known numbers of players are how many are joining a
chess federation.  Do you know if these numbers have increased or
decreased?  I do know that U.S Chess Federation relocated from several
hours north of NYC, a major media capital to Tenn. for cost reasons.
Do you have any idea why?

- Rich