How St Louis became America’s chess capital

Interesting article in The Economist today

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/05/economist-explains-0

Money...

Mostly Rex Sinquefield's.

Interesting....

God bless Rex Sinquefield.... but it is disappointing that so few other mega-benefactors have stepped up.  Billionaire Peter Thiel, (pay pal) is a USCF master, and often talks about chess skill aiding him in his business strategy. But, as far as I know, not a big chess benefactor.  And I know at least a dozen of top, young chess players that went on to become very wealthy, and, yet, no one has even come close to doing what Rex has done.  It is possible, of course, that there are benefactors that prefer to remain anonymous.

Question?  If you became a billionaire, would you be a big time chess benefactor?  What city would you try to turn into "America's Chess Capital?"  Bangor, Maine?  

Didn't know that Peter Thiel of PayPal is a chess master. I wonder if anyone has ever reached out to him to help support chess. Maybe the organizers of the millionaire chess should have gotten his backing.

Thiel had the equivalent of a "Luxury box" at the Carlsen-Karjakian World Ch Match last November.  I am sure he has been "hit-up" for donations.  I would also not be surprised if he has thrown some money towards chess, but opted to keep it anonymous so he won't have every chess organizer asking for his money.

But I was talking about a benefactor on the scale of Rex Sinquefield.  Where he has made such a large and continuing contribution, that even if he closed up his wallet tomorrow, he has already made a lasting contribution. 

Question?  If you became a billionaire, would you be a big time chess benefactor?  What city would you try to turn into "America's Chess Capital?"  Bangor, Maine?

I don't know if I would just spend it for just one city.  I think there's something to be said for the idea of spreading it around to all 50 states, and funding chess coaches and tournament directors.  Spread the wealth to get as many players and people to fall in love with chess.

And you probably do both, have one central site, and spread the wealth.  For the chess capital, hmmm, probably California.  Has the most immigrants.  Don't know why I think that's important.   Maybe thinking of So, Caruana, and Nakamura who have immigrated.  As well as all the great Russian players.

@SeniorPatzer  Give me billions and I'd make Bangor, Maine the chess capital of the world!  I have never been there, but the city has stuck in my mind since hearing the song "King of the Road" by Roger Miller, in the mid 1960s (".... Third boxcar midnight train, destination Bangor Maine"  love that lyric... match that one, Bob Dylan!)

Seriously, before Rex began sponsoring the Sinquefield Cup, probably the most significant series of tournaments held in the USA were the Swisses held in Lone PIne, Calfiornia, from the early 1970s to 1980.  Many of the great Soviets came to Lone Pine, including Petrosian and Smyslov.  Lone Pine is just a little town in the shadow of Mount Whitney.  Not nearly as big as Bangor, Maine and not mentioned in any Roger Miller song, either.  Louis Statham, a multi-millionare inventor was the benefactor.

@batgirl has a great (as usual) blog post about Louis D. Statham and the Lone Pine tournaments. https://www.chess.com/article/view/in-whitney-s-shadow

@Uncle_Bent

Funny that you mention Roger Miller and his great hit on a thread about wealthy chess benefactors. Miller said that the song was so good because he performed it the way he imagined Bobby Darin would sing it. Listen to Darin singing "Mack the knife" and the influence is clear.

How does that relate to this topic? Well, Bobby Darin had just arranged with the USCF to sponsor a tournament with 16 GMs and the highest prize fund ever for a chess tournament. It was intended to be an annual event. Tragically, and most unfortunately for the chess world, Darin suddenly died at the age of 37.  The tournament was canceled as a result.

That is very strange and disappointing. Somewhere like NYC or San Francisco have a much better rep of cities where people play chess in the parks, bunch of Gm's etc. St Louis is off the radar. Too bad So and Caruana live there. 

@OldPatzerMike  Great segue from Roger Miller to Bobby Darin.  (And although I had never heard the background story, I can definiitely now see the influence of Darin on Miller.)  And, yes, I remember Bobby Darin's attempt to be a chess patron.  If I remember, the tournament was originally scheduled for 1973, but had to be postponed a year,... and, alas, Darin died in the interim from the heart problems that plagued him all of his short life.

I wish Stinkfield would concentrate more on chess than trying to buy the Missouri state legislature. He pretty much owns the Republican party here and they ask before any bill is promoted what Rex thinks.

@DrSpudnik  Well, every dollar Rex spends on chess is one less dollar he can spend on the Missouri state legislature.  Win-Win proposition.  I have a lot more to say on the subject, but chess.com is not the forum for political discussions.

@Uncle_Bent  Yes, the tournament was scheduled for October 1973. Not sure why it was delayed, but Darin died in December of that year and the tournament never took place. I haven't found any mention of Fischer as a possible participant, nor anything suggesting a reason for that. All of the other top GMs were invited or being considered.

Darin actually had a semi-regular segment on his TV show in which he would explain some interesting chess moves. And here he is playing chess with José Ferrer:

@OldPatzerMike  1973 saw a huge boom in Chess around the world, in the wake of Fischer's World Championship victory in the previous year.  The delay in the Darin tournament was due to all the new tournament and commercial opportunties that opened up to the top GMs in the west.  I suspect there were too may scheduling conflicts to organize the tournament on just a few months' notice.

So and Caruana moved there originally because of the club/events and for So, college (Webster an Susan Polgar), along with a number of other GMs and strong players.

Same reason Nakamura moved there for a while.

@Martin_Stahl  Last I heard, when So left Webster Univ in October 2014, he moved to Minnesota.  

Yeah, he moved at some point; would have to look it up to see if that was when

It also looks like Caruana is registered in FL. For a while MO had quite the titled player list going on.

 Never been there, but would love to visit and attend a lecture or two at the club.