From: Joakim Andersson SWIPNET SE> Date: 27 feb 2000 Subject: Ang: The number of chess players Very interesting. Joakim Andersson ---------- > Dear Terao-san and other shogi friends, > > >Isn't there soneone who can tell me the number > >of chessplayers(incl. casual players) by country? > > Thanks for bringing up this interesting topic! > I just consulted the World Chess Federation (FIDE) > homepage. FIDE has 159 member nations and > FIDE claims more than 5 000 000 registered chess > players. That would mean approximately one registered > chess player out of 1000 human beings. > This figure seems quite reasonable, since Sweden > has 17 000 registered chess players out of 9 000 000 > inhabitants. That means approximately two registered > chess players out of 1000 Swedes. Then we know that > there are countries with relatively more chess players > than Sweden, for instance Russia and Eastern Europe, > and of course there are countries with relatively fewer chess > players than Sweden, for instance Japan. > > What does this mean if we would like to estimate the > total number of chess players (including casual players)? > Regarding Sweden, I would say that approximately 10 % > of the population are at least casual chess players. That > includes parents and grandparents playing chess with their > younger relatives at home, children playing in schools and > older people (mostly men) playing at cafeterias and other > public places. Chess TV shows in Sweden have registered > a few hundred thousand spectators (a few percent of the > population). > So, if we use a conservative estimation for the world, I would > guess that 1 % of the population of the world are at least > casual chess players. That would mean approximately > 50 000 000 chess players totally. > > >I would like to have it to estimate the number > >of potential shogi players on the earth. > > That is of course the next interesting topic (at least to a > shogi player!). In Sweden we have 100 registered shogi players, > which means 10 shogi players out of 1 000 000 inhabitants. > Europe does not have more than 500 registered shogi players > which means 1 shogi player out of 1 000 000 inhabitants. Probably > this is even an optimistic general estimation for the world outside > Japan. I leave it to you to give as correct as possible figures > for Japan. Maybe the number of shogi magazine buyers and > shogi TV show spectators can give a basis for a correct estimation. > > That being said, I think that we may include the xiangqi and go > players of the world among the potential shogi friends. That > would bring us up to some hundred million people or some percents > of the population of the world. > A great vision for the future would be to at least INFORM all these > people of the existence of shogi and the basic rules of shogi. > Then we can start aiming at bringing up the number of actually > registered shogi players outside Japan. > > Finally, I would like to point out ONE of the things needed for > a bright shogi future outside Japan (which I also think is necessary > for a bright shogi future in Japan!). The price of a standard shogi set in > Swedish shops (where available!) is normally three or four times > the price that you have to pay in Japan. This is natural, since the > shop owners cannot count on heavy sales volumes. If some wealthy > shogi organisation or shogi fan in Japan would like to do something > for the promotion of shogi outside Japan, I think that sponsoring of > the exportation of shogi sets to the west would be the best thing to do. > A good standard shogi set including a set of rules in the national > language or English (could be provided after contact with each of the national > organisations, which could also recommend a number of suitable > game shops) should be possible to buy at a price of 20-25 USD > in the west. That means that it must be able to be bought by the > shop owner to a price of approximately 10 USD. > > Sincerely yours, > > Dr. Martin Danerud > > President of the Swedish Shogi > Federation > > Acting president of FESA >