Chess sexism in chess
“An insult to so many women”
As of: 5:19 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Over 100 women have signed an open letter denouncing sexism in chess
Quelle: picture alliance/AA/Omer Taha Cetin
Chess is considered a sport for clever minds. It is dominated by men. Now numerous women are fighting back and denouncing sexism. According to one of the allegations, there is hardly a sexist environment for teenagers than chess. The world association is silent.
According to French chess player and coach Yosha Iglesias, 35, the world federation Fide continues to ignore the issue of sexism and sexual assaults against women in chess. So far there has been no response to the open letter that she and 13 French women published last week. “Responsibility for Fide continues to lie with men who don’t give a damn about the issue. I don’t know if it’s wishful thinking or denial,” Iglesias told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The world association initially did not comment on the dpa request.
In the open letter, the initiators denounced the sexist behavior of male colleagues. More than 100 have now signed, including prominent grandmaster Susan Polgar, former US champion Jennifer Shahade and German international Annmarie Mütsch.
Just weeks after cases of sexual violence in US chess became known, Fide held a workshop entitled “Chess is a Safe Space for Women”. “It was an insult to so many women,” Iglesias said. Shahade accused Costa Rican grandmaster Alejandro Ramírez of “sexual misconduct” earlier this year. The US Chess Federation has since expelled him.
The women accuse Fide and its President Arkady Dvorkovich of not doing enough to combat sexism
Source: dpa/Pavel Golovkin
There is hardly a more sexist environment for teenagers than chess, according to Iglesias. “Not because male chess players are, on average, particularly bad people, but because one girl in 100 men always has to listen to at least one stupid comment and sometimes suffers much worse,” she said.
Girls quit chess earlier
In male-dominated chess there are some all-women tournaments, but the masters are open. “In hardly any other sport can it happen that a young girl competes against a 50-year-old man. Of course, there are cases of sexual violence in many other sports, but young girls are surrounded almost exclusively by men, some of them much older, for a week, that only happens in chess,” said the Frenchwoman.
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In her homeland there is a significant decline in the number of young women chess players. Around 35 percent of girls are girls up to the age of twelve, after which the number decreases drastically. “One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, is sexist and sexual violence, yes,” said Iglesias, who herself has faced hostilities as a trans woman.
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