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It's a New Year; Let's do Something New

Posted By: Jake Jacobs
Date: Tuesday, 29 December 2015, at 4:11 a.m.

In Response To: It's a New Year; Let's do Something New (Timothy Chow)

Chess, and Bridge, have membership numbers that are admirable. But we were talking "celebrities." US Chess hasn't really had one of those since Bobby Fisher. The man in the street would be lucky to name Gary Kasparov. Magnus and Anand? If you think they are famous outside of the cloistered world of tournament chess, you are dreaming. Bridge is basically the same. Ely Culbertson was famous when my grandparents took up the game, and Charles Goren was a household name, but today you'd be lucky to find any non-player who remembers the name Goren, let alone Culbertson.

According to Wiki (as a non-chess player I had to look up the numbers) the chess federation, though having dropped from its peak, peaked as recently as a dozen years ago, and did so through its scholastic program. If backgammon wound up with 80,000 players (the current number of USCF members) through scholastic programs that would be great. But something like the poker phenomenon, with millions of players, regular TV coverage, and celebrity players? No way.

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