28-01-2014, 08:05 PM
There are so many factors that could be argued for the decline of Tournaments in Scotland. Stevie noted some quite feasible thoughts about numbers going down.
Surely the junior retention rate is the main reason? As someone who played as a junior, then quit the game as a junior, then came back in recent times after a 20+ year break from Chess, I can make one clear observation. The juniors of my generation which I played with, just aren't aren't there any more. Admittedly I comment purely from an observational perspective, but I am saying what I see, and I only see a handful of players now from my childhood which are still active in the game. I'd estimate 95% or more are gone. There won't be many like myself that fall in love with chess again walking through the tournament doors in future. Incidently the availibility of internet chess could not be considered as a main contributer from the people from my generation leaving the Scottish Chess scene.
I doubt improved inclusion can reverse the decline of tournaments. That said I do support research into improving inclusion, just for the stand alone reason of inclusion - nothing to do with improving tournament numbers (that would just be a bonus knock on effect). I can't help but strongly feel keeping juniors in the game is the key factor were missing in our game.
Surely the junior retention rate is the main reason? As someone who played as a junior, then quit the game as a junior, then came back in recent times after a 20+ year break from Chess, I can make one clear observation. The juniors of my generation which I played with, just aren't aren't there any more. Admittedly I comment purely from an observational perspective, but I am saying what I see, and I only see a handful of players now from my childhood which are still active in the game. I'd estimate 95% or more are gone. There won't be many like myself that fall in love with chess again walking through the tournament doors in future. Incidently the availibility of internet chess could not be considered as a main contributer from the people from my generation leaving the Scottish Chess scene.
I doubt improved inclusion can reverse the decline of tournaments. That said I do support research into improving inclusion, just for the stand alone reason of inclusion - nothing to do with improving tournament numbers (that would just be a bonus knock on effect). I can't help but strongly feel keeping juniors in the game is the key factor were missing in our game.