Dear Mr Vladimir Drkulec, President of the Canadian Chess Federation,


I am a chess Grandmaster from Australia, and also an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Queensland. I am the lead researcher on a new project that investigates how significant life events affect top chess players. Specifically, we have designed a survey that asks chess players a few questions about marriage, childbirth and their chess interest and study habits. This research will be beneficial to the wider chess community in discovering how these important life milestones affect the interest and performance of male and female chess players during their careers. I hope that the results will also shed light on how we can help to retain adult players in our chess communities despite the pressures of family life.


I would appreciate it very much if you would distribute our survey to your members, especially (but not limited to) players with FIDE ratings. The survey is very short, taking roughly 5 minutes to complete, and all of the data will be stored anonymously such that no player will be able to be identified. The project has been assessed by a rigorous ethics board and has been approved for research. I am happy to answer any questions that you or your members have about the research.


The link to the survey is here:
https://uqbel.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bsCcQRUC3fCxCtM


Many thanks for your assistance,
David Smerdon



Dr David Smerdon
Assistant Professor
School of Economics
The University of Queensland
Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia

https://dsmerdon.wordpress.com/