From: DANERUD MARTIN TELIA COM> Date: 27 feb 2000 Subject: The number of chess players 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=20 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=20 has 17 000 registered chess players out of 9 000 000 inhabitants. That means approximately two registered=20 chess players out of 1000 Swedes. Then we know that there are countries with relatively more chess players=20 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=20 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=20 includes parents and grandparents playing chess with their younger relatives at home, children playing in schools and=20 older people (mostly men) playing at cafeterias and other=20 public places. Chess TV shows in Sweden have registered a few hundred thousand spectators (a few percent of the=20 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=20 casual chess players. That would mean approximately 50 000 000 chess players totally.=20 >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=20 this is even an optimistic general estimation for the world outside Japan. I leave it to you to give as correct as possible figures=20 for Japan. Maybe the number of shogi magazine buyers and=20 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=20 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.=20 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.=20 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=20 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=20 Swedish shops (where available!) is normally three or four times the price that you have to pay in Japan. This is natural, since the=20 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=20 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=20 shop owner to a price of approximately 10 USD.=20 Sincerely yours, Dr. Martin Danerud President of the Swedish Shogi = Federation Acting president of FESA