Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1940 | 1,000 (approx) |
| 1952 | 1,127 |
| 1955 | 2,408 |
| 1960 | 4,579 |
| 1965 | 8,625 |
| 1970 | 22,623 |
| 1971 | 26,536 |
| 1972 | 30,844 |
| 1973 | 59,250 |
| 1974 | 59,779 |
| 1975 | 51,842 |
| 1976 | 49,179 |
| 1977 | 46,179 |
| 1978 | 48,837 |
| 1979 | 48,707 |
| 1980 | 47,800 |
| 1985 | 54,599 |
| 1990 | 52,898 |
| 1995 | 81,808 |
| 2000 | 85,396 |
| 2005 | 82,846 |
| 2010 | 80,000 (approx) |
USCF membership grew rapidly during the "Fischer Boom", starting around 1970, when Bobby Fischer was going after the World Championship. Membership nearly doubled in 1972 when Fischer became World Champion, reaching a peak that was not surpassed until 1992. Then membership declined when he did not defend his title in 1975.
USCF membership almost doubled during the 1990s and early 2000s, due to a boom in scholastic chess players, from approximately 53,000 (in 1990) to almost 89,000 (in 2002). This boom resulted in dramatic growth in scholastic chess throughout the country, as well as financial pressure on the organization, as the low dues charged to scholastic players did not cover the costs of servicing their memberships and the USCF could not grow sponsorship dollars quickly in response to the increased membership. As of 2010 membership is about 80,000, including over 50 Grandmasters, and USCF operations have recently returned to a break-even basis.
Read more about this topic: United States Chess Federation
Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)