excerpt
“Why is there a need for Girl’s or Women’s tournaments?”
This is probably one of the top 5 questions I have most often been asked over the past 15 years, since creating the Susan Polgar Foundation in 2002.
I would like to walk you through some history and then explain to you some challenges girls / women face in chess. But before we start down this journey, I want to make one thing abundantly clear. I have not changed my point of view. I do strongly believe that if given equal opportunities, women are just as capable in chess, and many other STEM fields, as are men. However, I still adamantly believe that there is a serious need for SOME “girls only” or “women only” events.
One of the first accomplishments of my foundation was to successfully lobby the US Chess Federation (USCF) to allow me and my foundation to organize all-girls events. I personally fought for this, and through other initiatives as well, to get more girls in chess. Up until my fight, there were no all-girls tournaments in the United States. I faced many objections and challenges to this idea. A number of the chess politicians really believed that it was a bad idea to “encourage” more girls to play chess, or to provide them with “opportunities” to excel in chess. Some even went out of their way to express their beliefs that it is “cruel and unusual punishment” to introduce girls to chess. They are not bad people but that is what they believed or just how they felt. Unfortunately, some people still feel the same way today.
In 2003, the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, which is now SPF Girl’s Invitational (SPFGI), became the first ever all-girls’ event approved and sanctioned by the USCF, after more than a year of lobbying and countless meetings. It was my dream to revolutionize chess for young people, especially girls. I believe with all my heart that chess can and will help children of all ages, in many different aspects. Naturally, some will want to take chess seriously, maybe to become grandmasters, or even World or Olympiad Champions. But for most, chess will be a fun game which can teach them many valuable life lessons. This is important to me.
The first ever Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls took place in 2004. Many young ladies who took part in this annual event went on to college, have families, and wonderful careers. Many became doctors, lawyers, mathematicians, engineers, bankers, entrepreneurs, etc. Some are starting to teach their own children how to play chess.
Because of the recognized value of the SPFGI, today there are countless all-girls tournaments and girls’ chess initiatives across the country. Not only do more girls participate in chess than ever before, but the level also went up dramatically! SPFGI remains the top, all-girls chess event in the world, with over $207,500 in scholarships and cash prizes in 2017, and with a budget of about $250,000. Unfortunately, many young girls and their parents today do not know the history and what it took to change the chess culture in this country.
First, even though we are in the 21st century, there is still a social stigma, according to which, girls are not supposed to want to become firefighters, mathematicians, engineers, or (yes!) chess players, etc. Many parents do not recognize that they are inadvertently feeding into this by giving their daughters stereotypical girl-toys, such as Barbie dolls, make-up and other “girly” toys.
For those parents (or teachers) who believe that girls can be anything they want to be, they face an uphill battle and a lot of extra obstacles (and expenses) in the chess world (just as in other male-dominated fields). It starts out with the serious difficulty in finding female chess coaches. There is a tremendous shortage. Some ask why the need for a female coach. There are several valid reasons, besides mentorship. For example, while a male coach may take a male student to an out-of-town competition and share a room, most parents of girls would never consent to the same. Therefore, even if they would allow their teenage daughters to travel with the male coaches, they would need to get a second hotel room which is a significant extra expense. Let’s say a hotel room with taxes is $100-150 a night, and most serious events would range from 6-11 days, you can do the math.
Secondly, boys / men are on average more aggressive and competitive. At a younger age, girls often face demeaning and insulting comments such as “chess is not for girls”, “girls cannot play chess”, or “you’re stupid”, etc. For the girls who survive the early difficult years and still remain in chess, things get worse during the adolescent years. An even bigger and more dangerous issue looms larger. While 90% of guys at most chess tournaments (or in chess clubs) may behave as perfect gentlemen, there is about a 10% who behave very disrespectfully towards women, especially when they have had a few drinks.
During my career, I had numerous occasions from personal experience where various male chess players made me feel awfully uncomfortable, and very unsafe, by making unsolicited and unwanted sexual advances. At times, they refused to take “NO” for an answer. On a few occasions, I was even extremely fearful for my physical safety. Sadly, many of my female chess- playing colleagues have similar stories to mine. This is why during my early years, I rarely dressed up or wore make-up. I did not want to stand out and be a bigger target. While many women want to look better, I “chose” to be less attractive.
This is why I am so thankful that my parents have sacrificed a lot (and not just financially) to accompany me to most of my out-of-town chess competitions even into my 20’s. This is an issue that most guys rarely, if ever, face. Given the gross disproportion of men versus women at most open chess tournaments, this is a serious issue that can make girls/ women feel uncomfortable, distracted, and in fact, for many girls to the degree that they give up chess all together.
Even today, when women are more accepted in chess compared to when I started out in the 1970’s, these problems still continue. For example, when I recently made a complaint about a certain male chess player, not only did the organizer ignore my warnings (implying that it is a non-issue), but they went ahead and spent more money to promote this person. Many in the chess world know who the “trouble makers” who demean, insult, and abuse women are, but nothing is done about it. To make it worse, those trouble makers in their circles get high-fives and praises for their despicable actions. Some of them compete to see who can “score” more.
These are some of the main reasons why I feel that it is very important for young girls, as well as for women to have also SOME female-only events. This is where they do not have to deal with all the above mentioned possible distractions and uncomfortable situations as we often face in open events. Also, such all-girl events serve as wonderful bonding experience, especially for younger girls, where they encourage each other to stay in chess instead of quitting.
Thirdly, even when a few blossomed, they are being punished and pushed down. When I became the #1 ranked female chess player in the world at age 15, some chess politicians could not accept this unprecedented success. They wanted to punish me for wanting to be as strong as the boys by competing only in open tournaments with boys and men. They wanted to make an example of me to discourage others from following my footsteps.
continues Why is there a need for girls' or women's tournaments?