I don't believe there is a relation between the improvement of computer chess and the reduction in the availability of in-person chess.
I also played chess as a kid and the allure of both local and national tournaments was that you could play with a multitude of different players, as opposed to the same 4 or 5 habitual chess players in your family/school/circle of friends.
But now, with the internet, at any second you can play with different people from all over the world, different strengths, styles and whatnot.
Hence now, instead of looking for the local chess club in the weekends we can play, any time of the day, any day of the week, anywhere.
Sites like the excellent lichess [1] are even free (in this case, free both as in beer but also as in speech) and, at any moment there there are 9 thousand, 10 thousand players enjoying this magnificent game.
I also played chess as a kid and the allure of both local and national tournaments was that you could play with a multitude of different players, as opposed to the same 4 or 5 habitual chess players in your family/school/circle of friends.
But now, with the internet, at any second you can play with different people from all over the world, different strengths, styles and whatnot.
Hence now, instead of looking for the local chess club in the weekends we can play, any time of the day, any day of the week, anywhere.
Sites like the excellent lichess [1] are even free (in this case, free both as in beer but also as in speech) and, at any moment there there are 9 thousand, 10 thousand players enjoying this magnificent game.
[1] http://en.lichess.org/