Have the 4ncl encouraged women's chess?

[Chris Rice]

It's my understanding that one of the aims of the 4ncl is to encourage women's chess. That is to be applauded if only for the fact that the typical male chess player is stereotyped with unwashed hair, anorak, supermarket carrier bag and trainers that should have been replaced years ago. Women are a lot easier on the eye and undoubtedly raise the general standard of behaviour by their mere presence.
However. in chess terms I am wondering whether any evaluation has been done either by 4ncl officials and/or women chess players as to whether the 4ncl rules ensuring that women are represented (ie in Division 1 for example) have been successful? Here's the list of female players that played in the last Division 1 weekend (Round 1 to be precise) in grading order:

1. Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (Wood Green 1) 2403
2. Tereza Olsarova (White Rose 1) 2267
3. Susan Lalic (Guildford 1) 2257
4. Zivile Sarakauskiene (Guildford 2) 2192
5. Fiona Steil-Antoni (Cheddleton 1) 2169
6. Ingrid Lauterback (Barbican 1) 2143
7. Sarah Hegarty (Wood Green 2) 2133
8. Sabrina Chevannes (Cambridge University 1) 2083
9. Kanwal Bhatia (Barbican 2) 2057
10. Maria Yurenok (BCM Dragons) 2041
11. Rasa Norinkeviciute (e2-e4 org.uk 1) 2010
12. Claire Summerscale (Jutes of Kent) 1982
13. Ali Roy (Warwickshire Select 1) 1954
14. Megan Owens (South Wales Dragons) 1847
15. Anna York-Andersen (Sambuca Sharks) 1825
16. Caroline Robson (Blackthorne Russia) 1618

If the aim was to encourage British women's chess then Warwickshire's selection of promising Scottish junior, Ali Roy, could be classed as a success. On the other hand the grades are often so low that the women often end up playing each other effectively creating a mini-league on the bottom boards. Aly Wilson who used to play for the Jutes of Kent for years often asked me to push her up the board order so that she could play one of the guys as it was boring for her to play the girls all the time.

It's just a thought but the 4ncl idea to encourage women's chess is an interesting experiment which has been running for some time so perhaps its time for an assessment of where we are with it?

[John Moore]

Chris

I am not sure I disagree with this but stereotypical is also to say that women are easier on the eye.