Seeds

by Jerry Lawson

Terry Whaley, the coach of the Cleveland High School Chess team, which won the 1989 and 1990 Washington high school team titles, attributes part of the credit for his team's consistent success to a deceased chessplayer from Pasadena, California. On the death of Mr. Frank Plumb, his brother, who lives in this area, considered throwing away his deceased brother's library of chess books, but realized there was a better use for them. He donated them to the Cleveland High School library. The school's chess team has certainly made good use of the windfall. Coach Whaley informed me in an interview at the tournament site that he makes sure these books remain in the hands of students, not collecting dust in the library. A little bit of chess literature, distributed at the right place, to the right people, had a major beneficial impact.

This anecdote reminded me of my own background. I grew up in an isolated rural area. I taught myself to play chess, solely from instructional pamphlets included in cheap chess sets (my favorite was one with the optimistic title "Chess in Thirty Minutes"). I organized a club at my high school that competed in low key matches against other local schools. There was no other organized chess in the area, and very little in the state. Without some outside intervention, I would probably never have played organized chess after high school.

Some far-sighted person at the USCF office a few decades ago sent out a mailing, offering free sample copies of Chess Life magazine to students. I received a copy. I was impressed. I had never imagined that such an organization existed. It opened a new world. Most of the annotations were so far over my head that they might as well have been written in Sanskrit, but I read and reread the magazine, and still own its dog-eared pages. I did not join the USCF at that time--the $5.00 annual membership fee seemed grossly exorbitant to the son of a coal miner who was used to living on a tight budget. However, when I left home a few years later to go to college, one of the first investments I made with my summer construction worker salary was a USCF membership. I has been a member ever since. While I am a long way from being an organizer of the caliber of someone like Bob Karch, it is fair to say that many others have become USCF members as the direct and indirect results of my organizational and promotional efforts.

It has become a pop cliché for political pundits to contrast the short-term profit oriented approach of United States businesses with the long-term view taken by the Japanese, who consider what the bottom line will look like ten years from now, as well as the one the next quarter. In this case, someone at the USCF office wisely took a Japanese style, not a typically American approach toward building an enterprise. I'm sure that the cost of the USCF's promotional mailing twenty some years ago looked ugly on that quarter's balance sheet, and at least in my case, it did not produce any visible return for years. Eventually, the cost of the investment was returned, with interest.

Before the United States will ever be able to support a respectable number of professional chessplayers in a decent fashion, a much broader base of ordinary players must be developed. Tennis, golf, baseball, football events, etc., are all able to charge hefty fees for advertising. A significant amount of this money makes its way into the hand of the players, enabling many of them to make a decent living and some to become quite wealthy. This end result is possible only because there are bases of millions of people in the country who participate in those events themselves, or at least have fond memories of youthful participation. Developing such a base of chess players is not an easy project. It will require time, and leadership with vision, not obsessed with the bottom line for this month, this quarter or this year.

Organizing scholastic chess and distributing literature to young people is like planting seeds with unpredictable germination rates. It might take a while, but if enough are spread around, there will eventually be a fruitful return on the investment.

Let's plant more seeds here in the Northwest.

With a new school year beginning, this is the right time to think about supporting scholastic chess. If you are a tournament director, hold a separate low entry fee scholastic section at some of your tournaments, and send a few flyers to local schools, where there are probably some kids interested in chess, but may not be any Northwest Chess subscribers. Keep the entry fee down, and award books, or Chess Life or Northwest Chess or Inside Chess subscriptions as prizes. Randy Kaech in Olympia distributes beginner-level chess books that he picks up at used book stores. Remember, there's no reason every chess event has to be rated. Even if you are not a USCF-certified tournament director, there's no reason not to contact schools in your vicinity and see if the chess sponsor (there usually is one, at least an ad hoc, informal one) would like your assistance in conducting a scholastic event. In many cases the students and coaches have the desire and energy to hold a chess competition but lack the know-how. You don't need to be a certified tournament director to explain or demonstrate how to run a event.

Help chess literature make its way into the right hands by donating books you've outgrown and unwanted copies of chess magazines to young people. If you don't know any young people who would want them at the moment, pass them along to a far-sighted organizer who will put them to good use. Obtain copies of the USCF's free "Scholastic Chess promotion materials" and distribute them to someone who has the ability and enthusiasm, but lacks the necessary knowledge.

These activities will not produce rapid results, but they are necessary to lay a foundation for the continued steady growth of chess in our area.