Chess is considered a sport for clever minds. It is dominated by men. Now numerous women are fighting back and denouncing sexism. The world association is silent.
According to the French chess player and trainer Yosha Iglesias (35), the world association 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 at FIDE continues to be borne by men who don’t care about the topic at all. I don’t know whether wishful thinking or denial prevails there,” Iglesias told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The world association initially did not comment on the dpa request.
More than 100 signatories now
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.
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.
Few all-women tournaments
In male-dominated chess there are some all-women tournaments, but most 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 also cases of sexual violence in many other sports, but that young girls for a week almost exclusively by some significantly older ones Surrounded by men, that only exists in chess,” said the Frenchwoman.
In her home country there is a large decline in female chess players in their youth. 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.
