Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Credit Crunch and Chess

All this talk of bailouts, meltdowns and markets dropping values left, right and centre across the globe has got me wondering: how has the current financial crisis affected the average chesser on the street?


Maybe you're playing in fewer tournaments. It could be that you're purchasing fewer books or "how-to-play" DVDs from Chessbase. Or maybe you've had a rethink about why you have both a Playchess and an ICC account. Then again, with all the freebies out there like FICS, why have a paid account in the first place?

No doubt in these trying times some of us have had to be more choosy with spending. In my case, it looks like I'll have to miss the upcoming Aussie Open in the gorgeous suburb of Manly. I'm heading off to Queenstown, instead. It's no good to play in both, but I'd rather have a proper holiday. That's too bad really because Manly's just across the harbour from me. And for our foreign readers, just check out this group on Flickr. See anything you like?

Seriously - how has the crisis affected your chess life, if at all?

3 comments:

Tom Chivers said...

There are a lot of bankers who play chess in London. Team line-ups are already visibly affected.

Anonymous said...

The steady decline in our dollar has halted my online chess related spending. Anyway, all my money is hidden under my mattress just in case the banks go bust.

Anonymous said...

I know I have learnt how to download pirated copies of chess books off the net instead of buying them