The men and women chess debate

Chess lacks real queens
Adina Bianchi
Issue date: 3/25/10 Section: Features

The game of chess requires a vast array of strategic and tactical skills. Foresight, logic and spatial reasoning are common faculties among competitive chess players. Interestingly enough, these gifted grandmasters are, for whatever reason, predominantly male.

Due to its highly competitive nature, chess has often been conceived as a “man’s game” and continues to attract significantly more men than women. On average, chess programs are comprised of only one-third women, a fraction that decreases as the age of participants increases.

Furthermore, the highest ranked female player consistently has a rating about 10 percent lower than that of her male counterpart.

Considering the long history and international appeal of the game, this discrepancy in participation of women versus men is a prime example of how cultural myths and societal conventions can affect a woman’s performance when, in fact, nothing hinders her ability to be equally as proficient as her male competitor.

To explain this “gendered game” phenomenon, some invoke the popular claim that men are biologically predisposed to be better at math- or science-related activities than women.

Jim Henle, professor of mathematics, responded that this claim is “totally unfounded.

“[Some people] might base it on the fact that fewer women than men go into mathematics; fewer become mathematicians. But that is really due to our culture,” he said.

Like any convention, this particular cultural norm affects women who consider pursuing chess. “A myth can be self-sustaining. Women are brought up in the myth and it affects how they think of themselves and the goals they set for themselves,” Henle said.

Lauren Duncan, professor of psychology, agreed: “I think socialization explanations are more convincing – chess is seen as a ‘man’s game’ and is probably more encouraged among boys than girls growing up.”

Another theory contends that young girls and boys approach chess in fundamentally different ways and that without the peer and parental support, girls are easily turned off to the game….

…Part of the issue is giving women, especially young ones, the confidence to overcome the intimidation of being the minority at competitive events. One study conducted at Oxford University showed that women’s performance decreased as much as 50 percent when they were aware that their opponent was male compared to when they were unaware of the opponent’s gender.

Susan Polgar, the first woman ever to earn the title of grandmaster, organizes specialized chess development and improvement courses geared toward girls. While the average rating of male chess players is still higher than that of female players, the number of women participating in clubs and tournaments is slowly rising.

Here is the full article.