I just received the following from Katie Abderhalden, a young female chess player from Idaho. I am very happy to see this kind of progress. Here is her letter:
Ms. Polgar,
I wanted to keep you informed about the situation in Idaho and I know that this would interest you.
Never before has a girl even placed at the Idaho Scholastic Championships. However, that changed yesterday. Not only did a girl ‘place’ in the top three Overall, but we swept the field by taking all three top spots. And two of us are still in middle school! The field consisted mostly of high school aged boys.
My best friend, Emily Patterson (age 14), and myself tied as Co-Champions with 41/2 points out of 5. (We drew in our game against each other.) So it came down to tie-breaks to determine trophy distribution. I received the first place trophy and Emily the second place trophy. Erica Barkell (age 17) came in third with 4 points.
And the three of us tied for the 2009 Idaho Girl’s State Championship two weeks ago!
The picture of us at the Scholastic Championships I sent, shows Emily in white, me in blue and Erica in black.
Girls Rock!
Katie Abderhalden
Way to go Katie, Emily and Erica! I am very proud of all of you!
I wonder to what extent it is sexist to say “Girls rock!”. Is that implying that “boys do not rock”?
As an example, imagine the news referred to three boys occupying the top three spots, and the note ending with “Boys rock!”. Would that be sexist?
Congratulations ladies. Girls do Rock!
I hope you enjoy continued success. The chess community needs you.
Hey Minotaur: Girls do rock. Boys rock too but as the mother of a chess-playing girl, I’m way too used to seeing her and maybe one or two other girls in a sea of boys at tournaments. In K-1, they start out maybe 60/40 or so (boys to girls) but by middle school, it’s overwhelmingly boys (with some exceptions like I.S. 318 in Brooklyn where Elizabeth Vicary teaches). That is why Susan’s efforts to promote girls in chess are so important. So when I read a story like this, I have to agree with the author: Girls Rock.
minotauro….
i know you’re probably just trying to get reactions, but the top 3 spots in a scholastic chess state championship going all to girls is probably the first in history. that’s pretty awesome, and those three certainly do rock.
Sounds like collusion
Congratulations to all the three of them!
“Sounds like collusion?” I think not! My husband recently played at a tournament, and his older gentleman opponent said “I hope I play better this year that last. Last year, I lost to a girl!” To which my husband responded, “I know, that was my daughter!” This is the mentality that girls in this centuries old, male-dominated sport have to deal with daily. That’s exactly why we must celebrate all their victories. Who is my daughter you may ask? She’s Emily Patterson. The girl in the white shirt in the photo above!
I think I understand now.
The “girls rock” comment is not sexist because it is not implying exclusivity. E.g. “girls rock” is not equal to “girls are better”. It just means “girls can do it just as well as boys”, and in this case it *was* better.
I think it is justified, since girls have been a minority in the sport. The same would have been adequate, I guess, if any other minority in the game had scored the first three positions.
Congratulations to the three winners! I hope my baby girl, 9 months now, will some day play as well as you girls do!
P.S. The suggestion of collusion is just ridiculous.
As the current coach of the two Co-Champions both 1st and 2nd Place, and the former coach of the 3rd Place player- I can attest to the fact there was no collusion involved. All three are tremendous chess players who wanted to win the most that day. I have reviewed the games played at the tournament, and they were all of extremely high-quality.
Furthermore, the characters of these girls is impeccable- both on and off the chessboard. We are all very proud of them!
Daniel Vellotti
Boise,ID
i wonder in how many states you can win the K-12 championship with a rating of 1400 or 1500?