Young Chess Queen Makes Her Moves
Run Date: 03/26/07
By Angeli Rasbury
WeNews correspondent
As a black girl Darrian Robinson faces minority status on two levels in the high-cost, high-pressure world of competitive chess. But the 12-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., isn’t focusing on any of that. She’s dreaming of the day she’s a grandmaster.
NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)–Darrian Robinson, 12, plays chess on the Internet, trains with a coach in school, travels extensively and completes her homework.
She also smiles and buzzes with excitement when she talks about chess and beams when she recounts her achievements in the sport.
Darrian, ranked third among girls under 13 in the United States, says she doesn’t like spending time in malls or getting her hair or nails done. She looks forward to competitions, wants to be an oncologist because her grandfather died from cancer and enjoys learning to play guitar.
…The World Chess Federation barred women from competing in its international championship before 1986, when Susan Polgar qualified but wasn’t allowed to compete; public protests prodded the federation to let women enter.
It wasn’t until 2005, though, that a woman made it into the round with the final eight of the championship; Susan’s younger sister, Judit Polgar, became the first woman to do so and compete for the title. But both grandmaster sisters remain anomalies in the world of chess.
…There are some advocates in the chess community working to help girls and young people have access to the sport. The New York-based Susan Polgar Foundation was created to promote chess in the United States and sponsor tournaments throughout the year for younger girls.
Here is the full article.
Way to go Darrian!
I know Darrian! She is not only a good chess player, but also is very pleasant and polite girl. By the way, she could speak Russian.
Only in America do you care what color someone is.
She is a player with equal opportunities to study and train like anyone else.
If she comes from a good family then she should have no disadvantages at all.
Anyone of any color from a bad family will have more disadvantages, but might still struggle through and be a good player.
Poor kid. Even in chess, where none of this stuff should matter, and anyone can be judged for themselves, she’s already safely pigeonholed into all the usual categories. Black. Female. And has to have people making a fuss over her for it. “Ooooh, isn’t it wonderful that a black female could play chess??” We used to oppress woman and minorities, now we patronize them. I guess that’s an improvement, but still, I was hoping for more.