State of Chess

Friday January 30, 2009
State of chess
CHESS: By Quah Seng Sun
Malaysia Star – Malaysia

Despite the current financial squeeze, with the possibility of corporate sponsorships drying up, the game is becoming more popular.

I WAS doing some reflection this Chinese New Year: making a personal reflection and also reflecting on the world at large in general. Not least, I was also reflecting on the state of chess and the direction it is likely to take.

In this country, I see chess continuing to attract its fair share of adherents to the game. Every year for the past three or four decades, I’ve been seeing many new tournaments run in various parts of the country.

I’ve also been seeing many new people drawn into the game. At every chess tournament, there are new faces and they are getting younger and younger. Sometimes, I recognise old faces: people who had not played chess for a while but are still drawn back into the game.

Of course, there were also the dropouts. Some lost interest completely while others scaled back their playing activities due to other pressing commitments. But by and large, new faces outgrew the dropouts and the local chess community continued to grow.

One of the reasons why I find the chess community growing is because chess is a relatively cheap game. All you need is a chess set. At worst, the most expensive investment is a chess clock.

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