Women and men in chess - smashing the stereotypes |
| Written by Natalia Pogonina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 23 June 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chess is often divided into mens chess and womens chess. The classification is quite relative, since women can participate in tournaments for men, while men cant take part in womens events. This discrimination has always been a subject of heated discussions. So, is it true that men are better than women in chess, and if so, then what are the reasons for that? Genes?Chess is an intellectual sport, physical strength is by far not the key factor there. Endurance is also not a factor, because women are probably even more enduring than men. Some say its about the level of testosterone that affects competitiveness men are more likely to be trying to excel at something than women. However, if we look at the percentage of so-called grandmaster draws among women and men then well see that womens fighting spirits are definitely higher. You may say that its an exception from the rule, but we still doubt that its the high level of testosterone that makes top women players good at chess. So, maybe women are just less smart than men? According to multiple studies, on the average the answer is no. Then whats the problem? Historical reasonsWomen have started playing chess professionally long after men. Nowadays the number of professional women chess players is growing, but the proportion is still incomparable. There are very few women in chess, so they have meager chances to enter the world chess elite. Look at the top-300 list of chess players and count the number of women there. If you dont miss anyone, youll find only three of them. Almost one to a hundred, great ratio, isnt it? A few more illustrative figures: according to FIDEs website, there are 20 female players who hold the GM title to 1201 male grandmasters (about 1 to 60), 77 female IMs to 2854 male (about 1 to 37), 239 WGMs and 7 female FMs to 5400 male FMs (about 1 to 22). Side note: notice the downward trend? Upbringing and social stereotypesThe other important issue is that in order to become a top chess player youve got to study chess diligently from early childhood. Parents (who have a large influence on their childrens choice of hobbies) deem chess as a strange pastime for a girl, and also do not appreciate the fact that their daughter will be spending a lot of time with male adults or teenagers (especially when leaving home to play in tournaments). Roy Gates (Southern California, USA) recalls: Michael Ziern (Frankfurt, Germany) adds: Moreover, serious chess studies require substantial investments (coaches, trips etc.), while its a well-known fact that women chess players cant make a decent living playing chess unless theyre at the very top. Thats why parents discourage their daughters interest in chess whats the point of wasting so much time on a dubious activity? When Natalia was twelve she even had to move to another city to get access to good coaching and financing life in Russia in the 90s used to be tough for anyone, not to mention chess players. So she and her coach could hardly find money for the chess trips and had to carry heavy bags full of chess books with them and sell the volumes in order to compensate the expenses. PsychologyThis factor seems to me to be the most important. A stereotype exists in chess that women are no match for men. It is based on statistical data. Thats why many female chess players are taught from early childhood that theyll never make it to mens level. TV and books are also trying to convince them that its unreal. But all this is a myth! The first woman to break it was the incredible Judit Polgar, the greatest woman chess player of all times. Polgar J - Kasparov G, Different priorities? What if women are just not interested in chess? Could it be one of those activities that appeal to men more than to women (like playing PC games, fighting, shooting, cussing etc.?). There was even an amusing hypothesis that chess is for immature and weird people, so women (who tend to mature faster than men) dont take up such a strange occupation. Robert Tierney (Binghamton NY, USA): Different tastes and priorities are probably part of the answer, but they are also closely connected with the other reasons. For instance, priorities are largely affected by social stereotypes and upbringing, so if (theoretically) we change them (e.g. encourage boys to play dolls and girls to study chess), we may see a completely opposite result. Its also important to note that (no matter what their interests are) most women have to dedicate a lot of time to their family: e.g. when a child is born they dont have enough time to study chess or participate in multiple chess tournaments. Some people argued that men are also distracted from chess by their parental responsibilities, but its clear that the scale is incomparable. Steps to takeFinal question what should we do to make chess more popular among girls? Run an educational campaign aimed at parents to help them learn that chess is a great game that develops the persons mind. Crush the stereotypes and provide enough information about the benefits of studying chess, and parents will be encouraging their daughters interest in chess! Introducing chess in the school curriculum could also be a great step towards providing girls with opportunities of becoming good chess players. Another key thing is sponsorship women chess is very attractive and exciting, so its worth investing into. If prizes in womens events increase to the same level as in mens, then girls (and their parents) will have a good financial motivation to consider chess seriously. Finally, the girls themselves should know that they are equal to men in terms of chess talents, play in mens tournaments, study hard and believe in their powers. If most women start acting that way, then one day quantity will lead to quality, and the world chess elite will be enjoying more female players. Its essential to remember that the sky is the limit and all the obstacles are in our heads About the authors: WGM Natalia Pogonina (born on March 9, 1985) is one of the best female chess players in the world, member of the Russian chess team. Woman Grandmaster (WGM), three-times European champion (U16, twice U18), bronze prize winner at the World Championship (U18) and European Women Championship, winner of the gold medal at the 1st International Mind Sports Games, co-winner of the 2008 Student World Championship, and #1 at multiple prestigious international tournaments (2006 Bykova Memorial, 2007 Rudenko memorial, 2009 Moscow Open, etc.). Her current FIDE rating is over 2500 a mark that is associated with the title of a male Grandmaster. Peter Zhdanov (born on January, 8, 1986) is a successful IT-specialist, leading world debate expert, top blogger and a proficient chess player. Peter is also Natalia Pogoninas manager, the administrator of the official Natalia Pogonina website and Natalias co-author of the upcoming book Chess Kamasutra.
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