I am wondering if there is way we get chess going in the workplace?

In my own experience, the biggest problem is getting a chess club going
is finding space to meet. Finding players, even in age of declining USCF
membership, has never been much of a problem, at least not for me.

In my area, around Princeton, New Jersey, there is a softball league in
which teams from various companies play one another. The companies
supply and maintain the fields on their own grounds; the employees
handle the organization.

If we could, with a little help from the USCF, get company leagues
going, similar to the above, with the companies providing the meeting
space, we could, in effect, spawn chess clubs all over the US, and we
would be hitting on a major area of decline in USCF membership--adult
members.

Moreover, it would be a great way to recruit women members. The softball
league above has a requirement that a certain number of woman be include
on each team. You could do the same with a company chess league.

How could the USCF help, without costing itself much money, which it
clearly does not have, at least at the moment?

(1) It could establish--and of course publish-- some guidelines and
minimum standards for league play. (Why minimum standards? I will get to
that in a minute.) As I understand it, league play is very common in
the UK and Europe, but not so much in the United States. I have started
clubs and directed (small) tournaments; I have no model for setting up a
corporate league. Since the idea is to promote chess, I would want a
model that is inclusive, gives players at all levels an opportunity to
play, but also allows teams with stronger players to strut their stuff.
But how many matches, how many boards, how many players per corporate
team? The USCF could provide some guidelines with regards to how to set
up a league.

(2) It could sponsor, much as it does in the case of the team
tournaments, regional and national playoffs between league "champions."
Here is where the minimum standards come in. In order to have some
system by which a national corporate team champion could be crowned,
league play at the local level might have to meet some minimum
standards. What constitutes a league? Does their have to be a minimum
number of teams, a minimum number of matches, etc. Of course at the
local league level, the organization would be handled by local
organizers willing to devote some time in setting up the league.

If you linked the league play up with a good and worthy charity, you
might be able to get some corporate sponsorship. There is precedent for
this in other sports, particularly running. Race for the Cure is an
example that comes to mind.

And I would think that companies that pride themselves on the "smarts"
of their employees and rely on that perception in their
marketing--McKinsey, Accenture, Microsoft,etc--would love to see and
sponsor a corporate team in the finals of some kind of national playoff.
(You might be able to organize the leagues at the local level to be
inclusive, but if you had some kind of national playoff, you could make
them more exclusive, perhaps sending the best 4-6 players.) Who knows,
companies might even hire masters as ringers, which would be great.

Also, a lot of the arguments that are marshaled to support chess in the
schools seem equally valid in the workplace, particular in an
information economy.


Ned Walthall

I played in a corporate league in your area. I'm surprised it doesn't exist
any more. It was a Wednesday night league, just like softball or bowling.
I played for Dunellen, and I recall Bell Labs, Rutgers, and about a dozen
teams total were in the league.

Jay McKeen


"Ned Walthall" wrote in message
...
I am wondering if there is way we get chess going in the workplace?

In my own experience, the biggest problem is getting a chess club going
is finding space to meet. Finding players, even in age of declining USCF
membership, has never been much of a problem, at least not for me.

In my area, around Princeton, New Jersey, there is a softball league in
which teams from various companies play one another. The companies
supply and maintain the fields on their own grounds; the employees
handle the organization.

If we could, with a little help from the USCF, get company leagues
going, similar to the above, with the companies providing the meeting
space, we could, in effect, spawn chess clubs all over the US, and we
would be hitting on a major area of decline in USCF membership--adult
members.

Moreover, it would be a great way to recruit women members. The softball
league above has a requirement that a certain number of woman be include
on each team. You could do the same with a company chess league.

How could the USCF help, without costing itself much money, which it
clearly does not have, at least at the moment?

(1) It could establish--and of course publish-- some guidelines and
minimum standards for league play. (Why minimum standards? I will get to
that in a minute.) As I understand it, league play is very common in
the UK and Europe, but not so much in the United States. I have started
clubs and directed (small) tournaments; I have no model for setting up a
corporate league. Since the idea is to promote chess, I would want a
model that is inclusive, gives players at all levels an opportunity to
play, but also allows teams with stronger players to strut their stuff.
But how many matches, how many boards, how many players per corporate
team? The USCF could provide some guidelines with regards to how to set
up a league.

(2) It could sponsor, much as it does in the case of the team
tournaments, regional and national playoffs between league "champions."
Here is where the minimum standards come in. In order to have some
system by which a national corporate team champion could be crowned,
league play at the local level might have to meet some minimum
standards. What constitutes a league? Does their have to be a minimum
number of teams, a minimum number of matches, etc. Of course at the
local league level, the organization would be handled by local
organizers willing to devote some time in setting up the league.

If you linked the league play up with a good and worthy charity, you
might be able to get some corporate sponsorship. There is precedent for
this in other sports, particularly running. Race for the Cure is an
example that comes to mind.

And I would think that companies that pride themselves on the "smarts"
of their employees and rely on that perception in their
marketing--McKinsey, Accenture, Microsoft,etc--would love to see and
sponsor a corporate team in the finals of some kind of national playoff.
(You might be able to organize the leagues at the local level to be
inclusive, but if you had some kind of national playoff, you could make
them more exclusive, perhaps sending the best 4-6 players.) Who knows,
companies might even hire masters as ringers, which would be great.

Also, a lot of the arguments that are marshaled to support chess in the
schools seem equally valid in the workplace, particular in an
information economy.


Ned Walthall

I think you must mean the Raritan Valley Industrial League. I am under the
impression that it is now defunct, but I could certainly be wrong. It may
still be around; I will look into it.

I think there also used to be an "industrial" league in New York City. And I
know Pittsburgh has a great league, but as I recall, it is not hooked up
with companies.

In any case, thanks for the tip, Jay,

Best,

Ned
"Jay McKeen" wrote in message
...
I played in a corporate league in your area. I'm surprised it doesn't
exist
any more. It was a Wednesday night league, just like softball or bowling.
I played for Dunellen, and I recall Bell Labs, Rutgers, and about a dozen
teams total were in the league.

Jay McKeen


"Ned Walthall" wrote in message
...
I am wondering if there is way we get chess going in the workplace?

In my own experience, the biggest problem is getting a chess club going
is finding space to meet. Finding players, even in age of declining USCF
membership, has never been much of a problem, at least not for me.

In my area, around Princeton, New Jersey, there is a softball league in
which teams from various companies play one another. The companies
supply and maintain the fields on their own grounds; the employees
handle the organization.

If we could, with a little help from the USCF, get company leagues
going, similar to the above, with the companies providing the meeting
space, we could, in effect, spawn chess clubs all over the US, and we
would be hitting on a major area of decline in USCF membership--adult
members.

Moreover, it would be a great way to recruit women members. The softball
league above has a requirement that a certain number of woman be include
on each team. You could do the same with a company chess league.

How could the USCF help, without costing itself much money, which it
clearly does not have, at least at the moment?

(1) It could establish--and of course publish-- some guidelines and
minimum standards for league play. (Why minimum standards? I will get to
that in a minute.) As I understand it, league play is very common in
the UK and Europe, but not so much in the United States. I have started
clubs and directed (small) tournaments; I have no model for setting up a
corporate league. Since the idea is to promote chess, I would want a
model that is inclusive, gives players at all levels an opportunity to
play, but also allows teams with stronger players to strut their stuff.
But how many matches, how many boards, how many players per corporate
team? The USCF could provide some guidelines with regards to how to set
up a league.

(2) It could sponsor, much as it does in the case of the team
tournaments, regional and national playoffs between league "champions."
Here is where the minimum standards come in. In order to have some
system by which a national corporate team champion could be crowned,
league play at the local level might have to meet some minimum
standards. What constitutes a league? Does their have to be a minimum
number of teams, a minimum number of matches, etc. Of course at the
local league level, the organization would be handled by local
organizers willing to devote some time in setting up the league.

If you linked the league play up with a good and worthy charity, you
might be able to get some corporate sponsorship. There is precedent for
this in other sports, particularly running. Race for the Cure is an
example that comes to mind.

And I would think that companies that pride themselves on the "smarts"
of their employees and rely on that perception in their
marketing--McKinsey, Accenture, Microsoft,etc--would love to see and
sponsor a corporate team in the finals of some kind of national playoff.
(You might be able to organize the leagues at the local level to be
inclusive, but if you had some kind of national playoff, you could make
them more exclusive, perhaps sending the best 4-6 players.) Who knows,
companies might even hire masters as ringers, which would be great.

Also, a lot of the arguments that are marshaled to support chess in the
schools seem equally valid in the workplace, particular in an
information economy.


Ned Walthall

Here's one in the Chicago area... http://www.tomhq.com/cicl.htm

"Ned Walthall" wrote in message
...
I think you must mean the Raritan Valley Industrial League. I am under the
impression that it is now defunct, but I could certainly be wrong. It may
still be around; I will look into it.

I think there also used to be an "industrial" league in New York City. And
I
know Pittsburgh has a great league, but as I recall, it is not hooked up
with companies.

In any case, thanks for the tip, Jay,

Best,

Ned
"Jay McKeen" wrote in message
...
I played in a corporate league in your area. I'm surprised it doesn't
exist
any more. It was a Wednesday night league, just like softball or
bowling.
I played for Dunellen, and I recall Bell Labs, Rutgers, and about a
dozen
teams total were in the league.

Jay McKeen


"Ned Walthall" wrote in message
...
I am wondering if there is way we get chess going in the workplace?

In my own experience, the biggest problem is getting a chess club
going
is finding space to meet. Finding players, even in age of declining
USCF
membership, has never been much of a problem, at least not for me.

In my area, around Princeton, New Jersey, there is a softball league
in
which teams from various companies play one another. The companies
supply and maintain the fields on their own grounds; the employees
handle the organization.

If we could, with a little help from the USCF, get company leagues
going, similar to the above, with the companies providing the meeting
space, we could, in effect, spawn chess clubs all over the US, and we
would be hitting on a major area of decline in USCF membership--adult
members.

Moreover, it would be a great way to recruit women members. The
softball
league above has a requirement that a certain number of woman be
include
on each team. You could do the same with a company chess league.

How could the USCF help, without costing itself much money, which it
clearly does not have, at least at the moment?

(1) It could establish--and of course publish-- some guidelines and
minimum standards for league play. (Why minimum standards? I will get
to
that in a minute.) As I understand it, league play is very common in
the UK and Europe, but not so much in the United States. I have
started
clubs and directed (small) tournaments; I have no model for setting up
a
corporate league. Since the idea is to promote chess, I would want a
model that is inclusive, gives players at all levels an opportunity to
play, but also allows teams with stronger players to strut their
stuff.
But how many matches, how many boards, how many players per
corporate
team? The USCF could provide some guidelines with regards to how to
set
up a league.

(2) It could sponsor, much as it does in the case of the team
tournaments, regional and national playoffs between league
"champions."
Here is where the minimum standards come in. In order to have some
system by which a national corporate team champion could be crowned,
league play at the local level might have to meet some minimum
standards. What constitutes a league? Does their have to be a minimum
number of teams, a minimum number of matches, etc. Of course at the
local league level, the organization would be handled by local
organizers willing to devote some time in setting up the league.

If you linked the league play up with a good and worthy charity, you
might be able to get some corporate sponsorship. There is precedent
for
this in other sports, particularly running. Race for the Cure is an
example that comes to mind.

And I would think that companies that pride themselves on the "smarts"
of their employees and rely on that perception in their
marketing--McKinsey, Accenture, Microsoft,etc--would love to see and
sponsor a corporate team in the finals of some kind of national
playoff.
(You might be able to organize the leagues at the local level to be
inclusive, but if you had some kind of national playoff, you could
make
them more exclusive, perhaps sending the best 4-6 players.) Who
knows,
companies might even hire masters as ringers, which would be great.

Also, a lot of the arguments that are marshaled to support chess in
the
schools seem equally valid in the workplace, particular in an
information economy.


Ned Walthall

"Ned Walthall" wrote

I think there also used to be an "industrial" league in New York City. And I
know Pittsburgh has a great league, but as I recall, it is not hooked up
with companies.

Information on the pittsburgh chess League is available at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/ChessPA/...gue/wpapcl.htm

It originally started as an industrial league, but over time fewer and
fewer companies have competed, so that now clubs and independently
formed teams predominate.

- Tom Martinak

You took the words out of my mouth. The problem with company leagues
is that it's so much fun, everybody wants to play, even if they're not
in a big company. The Pittsburgh league was founded around 1960, and
already in the 1968-69 team I remember playing in a "high school
all-stars" team. I also remember that around 1984, one of the old
Westinghouse players, nostalgic for the good ol' days when the league
was mostly company teams, wanted to organize a separate division just
for company teams. A plausible idea, but he didn't follow up on it.

There are also university teams (Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon), but
nowadays even they are full of ringers.

I'm not complaining, it's great fun. I like the "company team" idea,
but in the 2002-2003 season, there were NO company teams in the
Pittsburgh Chess League. I organized a company team in the early
1990's when I worked for Transarc, and it was probably one of the last
company teams. Even so, I had to put a couple of "outsiders" on my
roster in order to cope with illnesses, conflicts, etc.

(Tom Martinak) wrote in message . com...
"Ned Walthall" wrote

I think there also used to be an "industrial" league in New York City. And I
know Pittsburgh has a great league, but as I recall, it is not hooked up
with companies.

Information on the pittsburgh chess League is available at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/ChessPA/...gue/wpapcl.htm

It originally started as an industrial league, but over time fewer and
fewer companies have competed, so that now clubs and independently
formed teams predominate.

- Tom Martinak

"Jay McKeen" wrote ...
I played in a corporate league in your area. I'm surprised it doesn't
exist
any more. It was a Wednesday night league, just like softball or bowling.
I played for Dunellen, and I recall Bell Labs, Rutgers, and about a dozen
teams total were in the league.

Back in the 1970s I played in the Rochester (NY) Industrial Chess League.
Don't know if it still exists.

Tim Hanke

Yes, its odd in a way. I am suprised there are not more. A corporate
league offers two really nice features--team play, which seems to really
draw players, even some who don't normally play much in individual
events--and a "roof", which in my experience is one of the most
difficult and exasperating aspects of getting a club going.

I am immensely envious of our frineds in the United Kingdom, where chess
leagues of every sort abound. :-)

I am actually going to try launching an "industrial" league in Mercer
County, central New Jersey.



Best,

Ned

Bruce Leverett wrote:
You took the words out of my mouth. The problem with company leagues
is that it's so much fun, everybody wants to play, even if they're not
in a big company. The Pittsburgh league was founded around 1960, and
already in the 1968-69 team I remember playing in a "high school
all-stars" team. I also remember that around 1984, one of the old
Westinghouse players, nostalgic for the good ol' days when the league
was mostly company teams, wanted to organize a separate division just
for company teams. A plausible idea, but he didn't follow up on it.

There are also university teams (Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon), but
nowadays even they are full of ringers.

I'm not complaining, it's great fun. I like the "company team" idea,
but in the 2002-2003 season, there were NO company teams in the
Pittsburgh Chess League. I organized a company team in the early
1990's when I worked for Transarc, and it was probably one of the last
company teams. Even so, I had to put a couple of "outsiders" on my
roster in order to cope with illnesses, conflicts, etc.

(Tom Martinak) wrote in message . com...

"Ned Walthall" wrote


I think there also used to be an "industrial" league in New York City. And I
know Pittsburgh has a great league, but as I recall, it is not hooked up
with companies.

Information on the pittsburgh chess League is available at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/ChessPA/...gue/wpapcl.htm

It originally started as an industrial league, but over time fewer and
fewer companies have competed, so that now clubs and independently
formed teams predominate.

- Tom Martinak