Chess – sexism on the board: male hostility also at Tata Steel

For whatever reason chess is considered a “gentleman ‘sport”, with regard to the recent history, this is hardly understandable: since the boom at the beginning of the pandemic there has been a scandal every week, a tree is constantly burning somewhere. The Netflix series “The Queens Gambit”, which made a significant contribution to the current success, was designed as a drama-a sequel would certainly be conceivable as a soap.

These scandals are often about offended egos and injured vanities. Or as in the argument between Magnus Carlsen and the World Association Fide for money. Sometimes, however, it is also more fundamental, as in the small town of Wijk Aan Zee. As part of the Tata Steel Challenger, the gold medalist of the chess Olympics 2022, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and the Indian world class player Vaishali Rameshbabu met. Yakubooev refused his opponent before the game. Rameshbabu then swept him off the board relatively unimpressed. Yakubboev later justified his behavior with his belief: Chess was not “Harām”, a view that has a far -reaching controversy between Islamic scholars. It is therefore not allowed to touch women to others. His behavior makes his behavior that he did not inform his opponent in advance and also did not consider an alternative greeting as a gesture of appreciation.

The tournament in Wijk Aan Zee is the most important of the year after the chess World Cup and the candidate tournament, it is also called “the Wimbledon des Chess”. It is divided into several sections: the top of the world meets each other in the Masters, in the Challengers the extended elite, including exciting, mostly very young players such as the only twelve -year -old Faustino Oro, who optionally as a child prodigy or because of his Argentine origin as »Messi des Schach’s «is titled.

This year, in addition to Vaishali Rameshbabu, there are three other women in the Challengers on the board: only 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi from China, Irina Bulmaga and Divya Deshmukh. While Deshmukh and Bulmaga play a mixed tournament, Rameshbabu and Lu Miaoyi find three game rounds in the secured midfield before the end, but have nothing to do with the tournament victory. But their participation alone is a success – because they normalize women in chess.

It is still rarely in chess that women compete in open tournaments. In fact, in recent history, only one woman made it into the top ten in the world: the legendary Judit Polgar. The currently best woman in the chess game, Hou Yinfan from China, is currently in 106th place in the world rankings. In addition to Polgar and Maia Chiburdanidze, she is the only third player who has been able to advance in the top 100 since the introduction of the Elo World Ranking. This raises the question of which structures in top sport prevent women from becoming dominating figures. Especially because Vaishali Rameshbabus younger brother Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa competes in the Masters at Tata Steel Tunrnier and even has a chance of winning the tournament.

Unlike in most sports, hardly any developmental -biological factors have so far been listed in the chess in order to explain this difference. A particularly funny theory from the 19th century says that male brains in the intellect are more variable, i.e. the bandwidth of intelligence extends over a larger area. That would mean that there were more male geniuses, but also a lot of men with more limited cognitive skills. However, anyone who has heard chess masters about the facts beyond their sport will talk about the fact that this is generally genius.

One of the closer reasons for the absence of women in the world leaders reveals itself in a case that is much more blatant than Yakubboev’s hostility to Vaishali Rameshbabu. The Lette Andrejs Strebkovs sent pornographic pictures over a period of ten years and used condoms to partially underage chess players. Only when well-known chess streamers made this systematic sexual harassment attentive that the FIDE intensified her investigations. Now Strebkovs is not only locked out by all official tournaments for twelve years, but also lost his title as an international champion.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorskovich commented on the judgment of the Chamber of Appeals of the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission of the World Association this week. have to feel safe and respected «. Although this should not be said that the FIDE is a feminist organization: In 2021, the Association Motor had introduced Motor as a new main sponsor – a company that specializes in breast enlargement.

A misogyne and sexist mood in chess cannot be denied. This is underpinned by studies that show that women perform better if they do not know that they compete against men. The question is even more interesting why so few women play chess at all: in the USA, for example, the proportion of female players is currently 13 percent. The US association is also a good example of the fact that many associations claim to stand up for the well-being and the integrity of players, but ultimately do not do it. 2023 made the head of the US Chess Women’s Program, Jennifer Shachade, known that the well -networked grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez had sexually harassed her, that his assault was also an open secret to minors for years and that he was nevertheless sent in an official mission as a coach of the women’s team for the chess Olympics.

The examinations initiated confirmed the allegations. This scandal not only led Ramirez to withdraw from all his posts. Also Jennifer Shachade took off her office barely half a year later and said goodbye to the US chess because she said she had not received any support from her association, but instead met hostility. So if chess is not a “Gentelman’s Sport” – he is still a male -dominated sport, despite all the officials of the officials.