Promoting and Marketing Scottish Chess

[David G Congalton]

I do think that there is little understanding outside 'chess circles' about the world scale of Chess.
Yesterday I did a search on 'xadrez' which is the Portuguese name for Chess. The amount of Brazilian chess websites is staggering. There are about 10 online chess websites and many many more club information pages etc. I would like to compile a list (probably small book) to be used to show to potential sponsors so they can see the scale of chess worldwide with an undertaking that we would notify all those websites of any sponsorship gained. I think the International 'Chess Community', if it exists, should help each other gain sponsors and if it doesn't exist we should promote it's existence by contacting other federations and urging we support each other in gaining sponsorship for Chess.
One of the big selling points of Chess, 'the brand' is that it is a genuine international sport played in every country in the World. i.e. I read on the Bralian wiki page that out of over 600 million in the world who are thought to play chess (probably know how to move the pieces) 7.5 million players are members of national federations.

Such a small book would be very useful but even just an analysis of the potential markets abroad, by country, could be useful. We could then identify and target UK companies (initially) who are trying to penetrate markets in these countries. Aside from the Portuguese speaking nations, India, China and the ex-USSR states spring to mind. Research would highlight UK based companies who may find International Chess Community links beneficial and possibly vice-versa.