We beat men at chess. Now we are forces to let one join our team.

31 replies

WarriorN · 31/07/2026 10:28

‘We beat men at chess. Now we’re forced to let one join our team’

https://www.thetimes.com/article/305079ce-4881-4171-ac6a-72df0fdedce7?shareToken=3ecb5b6135b8b8f023c4a0f07898bdd8

OP posts:

GeneralPeter · 02/08/2026 10:40

FromFrickToFuck · 02/08/2026 09:24

There is also some sexism and structural disincentives

I know nothing about chess. DH takes DS to club, he sits in a cafe with the other dads that drop off. When they go for competition weekends the club pays for a twin room for him and DS, and he watches chess for hours then the club goes out for a meal and talk about chess for hours. Had I ever played chess as a child or ever cared about it perhaps I would partake more but no thank you. Also DS doesn't really want to share a room with me anyway.

When I drop and collect from club I'll do it screeching in at the last minute with other kids in tow like the other mothers because I'm multitasking.

Most of the kids coming out seem to be either white autistic British boys, or with parents from a country where chess is a more revered sport like Russia/China/India. Could be ND boys as well, but definitely with parents who have a history of playing chess without the ewww boring factor we have here.

Yes I think the format of tournaments is a structural barrier. Not many women can take frequent full days out of their schedule unless they are full-time chess players (chicken and egg). And for girls, being in an environment that progressively gets closer to 100% male isn’t that encouraging.

I still think lack of interest is the main explanation though (and that not being obsessively interested in chess is the normal position, not some sort of strange aberration needing explanation).

GeneralPeter · 02/08/2026 10:44

HeyManLookAtMeRockingOut · 02/08/2026 09:39

Surely the gender inequality between the level of male/female comes from the same place as darts etc? In that whilst women can perform just as well as men (that there are no gender differences for ability unlike say track), there is a massive difference in the ability of women to comfortably practice the sport due to misogyny.

I don’t know a great deal about either so I’m prepared to be told I’m wrong.

(I don’t think ability is the right word for above but the correct word is not coming to me!)

Edited

It seems quite a leap to say it must be misogyny when there is a more natural explanation, to do with average differences in interest in different things.

I’m curious whether you think the big skew in men vs women who know pi to 1000 or 10000 places is also misogyny, for example. Or just that most people don’t care enough to do it, and that those very few who do are more likely to be men.

Treaclewell · 02/08/2026 13:06

Update on my derail. He stayed with chess, becoming a county under-18s champion. He hasn't been doing it in competition since, having studied law, and is now a High Court Judge. (Dances around like Bellatrix Black singing "I taught a High Court Judge!") Not in any sort of cases which interest us. G&S earworm. too.
Sorry for derail.

Treaclewell · 02/08/2026 13:10

Oh, and the school club being run by me didn't seem to attract a lot of girls. Our team was boys. We had problems with matches falling on football practice evenings. Even though we were winning them.

Treaclewell · 03/08/2026 08:30

Another thing I came across was a lad who, between his moves, would wander the room overlooking other players. When I commented to his teacher that mine were finding this behaviour distracting, I got a "that's my boy" smile of approval - it was his son. More gamesmanship as part of the tournament. I don't think girls like it. Most boys don't either. They are there to play chess, not male Mean Girl stuff.

Jasmini · 04/08/2026 15:44

I think this is a bit of a non story really - there’s always been a rule that the teams in 4ncl div 1 needed at least 1 male and 1 female and the female team would have been aware throughout. In fact it used to be that teams in all 4ncl divisions needed at least 1 male and 1 female, though now just div 1 (div 2 can have an u16 rather than both male/female). Several years back there was a team that was 7 female/1 male and also rose up the divisions.
I agree that the lack of girls /women in chess is that they find other things to do with their time, to get to top level chess requires a certain amount of obsession and there’s little in the way of money/other rewards

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