"Chess is NOT just for geeks!"

[Andrei Botez]

I am trying to make a presentation for middle/high school in the town I live to show that chess is not just for geeks.
Since I started a chess club in the high school,a couple a months ago I got around 10 kids coming to play, the problem seems to be that a lot of kids are not coming to the club being afraid that their classmates will consider them geeks. My daughter told me that when the announcement was read in the school, the only reaction was a couple of laughs.
Any ideas or comments will be appreciated.

[Jason Lohner]

Thats a tough one, perhaps you could get Ben Daswani to help you with the presentation . I would probably explain to them that Chess is a War game between two armies. I would use pictures of Current Womens world champion http://kosteniuk.com/ as she is also a Model. The problem is that when people think of Chess here in North America, they think of Bobby Fischer who looks like the worlds biggest geek. For the guys I would discuss Magnus Carlsen and his meteoric success.

In our culture of 'dumbing down', anything considered 'smart' is also considered 'geeky'. Considering your Daughters success in chess you could mention certain successful women players as well... bring up the record of Susan Polgar and her sisters. I wouldn't name you daughter in front of the school without her permission though... Kids always get embarrassed when there parents point them out in front of their peers.

Just my 2cents worth.

[Luke Campbell]

I think it might not be worth it to try and fight this perception. Trying to fight the geekiness of chess just makes it look that much geekier. In my chess club I tried the opposite approach and tried to make it as nerdy as possible. In the announcements I emphasize the nerdiness of the club. In the past we ordered toques and T-shirts with the chess club logo, but there is a demand for sweater vests and I may do that next year. As well, for the yearbook picture, we tried to model it on the "white and nerdy" song by Wierd Al Yankovic.

[Jason Lohner]

I think it might not be worth it to try and fight this perception. Trying to fight the geekiness of chess just makes it look that much geekier. In my chess club I tried the opposite approach and tried to make it as nerdy as possible. In the announcements I emphasize the nerdiness of the club. In the past we ordered toques and T-shirts with the chess club logo, but there is a demand for sweater vests and I may do that next year. As well, for the yearbook picture, we tried to model it on the "white and nerdy" song by Wierd Al Yankovic.

hehe yeah but look who is teaching them!!!

I donno, I don't think pics of GM Kosteniuk would hurt any cause

[Hugh Brodie]

Show them some of the "chess-boxing" videos from YouTube :-)

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Show them some of the "chess-boxing" videos from YouTube :-)

Another cool short movie is a "Chess club" (similar to a "Fight club" with E.Norton and B.Pitt)

[Kevin Pacey]

While not an attempt to answer the original poster in this thread, I'll offer my own thoughts on ways to try to reduce the geek factor in chess, by way of an old blog entry of mine on the subject:

http://www.chesscanada.info/forum/en...actor-of-chess

Note that even if one chooses to wave the white flag and just concede that chess is largely for geeks, guess what? In today's world geekiness is becoming rather closer to the norm, thanks to technology allowing such things as video games. Then there's Harry Potter...