The Last Nail in a Chess Club’s Coffin?

 

Your humble scribe hates to get serious on this chess blog. After all, the missions of this blog is to: Promote chess,

Promote Michigan chess,

Promote Livingston County MI chess and

Educate readers on chess, chess history and chess news.

This sad article is about the latter mission.

The news for Chess Clubs, as miserable as it is to say– brick and mortar, flesh and blood, over the board, meet your chess buddies in person and teach new players chess clubs – is dismal, if not over. Maybe not forever probably, but for a long time.

Nail: This COVID 19 pandemic issue (trying not to say whether it is a hoax, a real concern or somewhere in between – because there is no way to really know), has caused panic within the general population. Not to mention that the government edicts issued ‘to keep us safe’, have locked all brick and mortar chess clubs down.

LCCC has lost it’s location to hold our chess club because of the government. Looking for a new site is pointless at this time and I will explain why.

There are two main groups of attendees to chess clubs; old men and children – and this is the Achilles Heal of chess in general. 

Young people and middle aged folks have school or jobs, a host of other activities, dating, marriage and starting families, college and /or a career. Chess takes a back seat usually for these people.

The COVID panic now keeps the old guys at home, and the parents are not going to subject their children or themselves to a bunch of old geezers and possible wheezers at a chess board, or sit in a possibly un-sterile chess area.

LCCC will continue on-line for now. The future of the brick and mortar LCCC Chess Club is in a coma that it may not recover from.

We will see.