Starting a Chess Club-How to

[invader]

Cheers!

I want to start a local chess club in my town. Apart from forking out $169 for a starter club kit from USCF and then advertising in the local paper, what is the best way to start a chess club?

The problem is that I don't have $169 for the starter chess club or the paper advertisement. The only chess set I have at the house is missing pieces!

Any thoughts or ideas or tips from those of you who have started clubs from scratch or ran them?

Thanks in advance

Invader!

[Wookiee]

When I helped start a chess club here in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the club kit from USCF was free. It was back around 1990. I had a couple friends I played with at work at lunch and we began going to tournaments together.

We took out an ad in the paper for a chess club meeting at the main library and also put up flyers at the local university and high schools and at the mall. Only one other guy attended that meeting besides us three, but he had a semi-club going at the university already, so we combined forces and became a club. It's still going, meeting every Monday and putting on about 5 or 6 rated tournaments each year.

Try contacting your local schools for players. We also charge a lifetime membership fee of $5 per player to gernerate funds to buy boards for the club and maybe to get the kit from USCF.

You could also set up a booth at the fair or at a trade show in the mall, etc. Maybe set-up a board and offer a free game, or maybe $1 a game - $5 prize if you win. Have a flyer ready to point them to a club meeting.

Also, some businesses are eager to sponsor sports. It never hurts to ask employers if they'd be interested. Have some sort of package prepared to show them what they benefit from sponsorship - i.e. advertising.