4000+ CFC Members: a mixed blessing?
In the current May-June 2023 CFC meeting CFC President Vlad Drkulec wrote: "... However, with this exponential growth [to now 4000+ CFC members] comes a set of challenges that we must address proactively. One significant challenge we currently face is the limited availability of suitable venues to accommodate the increasing number of players eager to compete in our tournaments. The surge in demand has stretched our existing infrastructure to its limits, leaving us with insufficient space to accommodate all the prospective players who wish to participate. This issue warrants our immediate attention and collaborative effort to ensure that no player is left behind, and every chess enthusiast has the opportunity to engage in competitive play..."
Long ago I wondered if organizers weren't much proactively going out and advertising their events to total newbies (i.e. non-CFC members) partly out of fear of what to do with overflowing playing sites (besides the inertia or the temptation just to advertise to CFC members only). Now, largely due to covid, perhaps, there's been a flood of new CFC members, and sufficient sites/playing space is scarcer.
Back in the 1970s and to some extent early 1980s, however, there were well over 4000 CFC members. What was going on then? Well, in Ottawa at least, the U of Ottawa was used as a site back then. In Toronto, the MacDonald Block gov't site was being used, before it was lost for different reasons. Since then, maybe other large sites have been lost too, especially as the number of players dwindled Canada-wide. In Gatineau there were 2 sites that were available relatively recently, until the Trudeau gov't took power and did a poor job of celebrating 2017 Canada Day (such as affecting said sites availability long after). Anyway, we've been at this level of CFC membership before, and now organizers need to find fresh sites (or regain old ones). We are still a ways away from pre-FQE CFC membership levels, and nowhere near 10,000 CFC members, an old target set by a 2012 blueprint plan for the CFC by a planning committee. Anyone who wishes to discuss the problem of insufficient playing sites might do so in this thread, especially if they cannot participate in the online meeting.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 05-30-2023 at 02:11 PM.
Reason: Adding content to last paragraph
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.