English Chess Forum

Nick Burrows wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:52 pm

Without wishing to downplay women's expeiences of sexism in chess. I would suggest that the largest driver of the disparity in numbers of male and females continuing to play the game as they get older, is down to the male propensity towards the single minded pursuit of goals at the expense of all other facets of life. In short, men are more obsessive.

Women are not the only gender to experience sexual harassment in chess. Males are on the receiving end of it too, usually from other males.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:10 pm

Women are not the only gender to experience sexual harassment in chess. Males are on the receiving end of it too, usually from other males.

Please explain.

Frankly I'd rather not! Perhaps it's best to conclude that chess players who pursue women often find their endeavours are given scant regard whereas chess players who pursue men, especially young men, and also very young men, sometimes end up with Interpol chasing after them!

Is it possible that this thread could be kept reasonably clear of idiocies

I thought that was your forte Justin?

FIDE’s fairly quick response to some tasteless commentary yesterday; https://www.fide.com/news/2008

Matt Bridgeman wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:52 pm

FIDE’s fairly quick response to some tasteless commentary yesterday; https://www.fide.com/news/2008

They tolerated such comments for nine rounds but better late than never.

Link to article on BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-63062092

His female co-commentator was feeding him those controversial lines and laughing about it.

FIDE canned him for pointing out that the WGM title literally rewards "playing well for a girl", and is designed to.

I rather doubt if he was "canned" for any one single comment, from the reports I have seen.

Chris Goodall wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 5:41 pm

His female co-commentator was feeding him those controversial lines and laughing about it.

FIDE canned him for pointing out that the WGM title literally rewards "playing well for a girl", and is designed to.

My good friend Fiona did an excellent job of combining keeping the show ticking over with quizically dealing with the sexist's offensive remarks.

I'm sure she did, but the phrase everyone has picked up on is "chess is maybe not for women", and she literally put those words in his mouth. And it's kind of a verbal hand grenade, because if you take "not for women" to mean "not an environment that caters for women, at least at the professional level" then most people, including most women, would agree. There are committees dedicated to finding out why that is and fixing it.

Maybe Smirin actually did agree to commentate on a women's event while not believing that women could play chess. I don't care about his commentary career. I find it quite convenient that the last straw for FIDE was when he suggested that FIDE might be the biggest sexists in the room.

Chris Goodall wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:43 pm

I'm sure she did, but the phrase everyone has picked up on is "chess is maybe not for women", and she literally put those words in his mouth.

Also, English is not his first language, perhaps not his second. Nor Fiona's. The sentence "chess is maybe not for women" is not natural English and, as Chris says, could be distorted by the interpretation. We just don't know.

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 29, 2022 12:10 am

[ The sentence "chess is maybe not for women" is not natural English and, as Chris says, could be distorted by the interpretation.

The words can be rearranged

chess is not for women maybe
maybe chess is not for women

I would expect there are enough examples to dismiss this as a generalisation.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:39 pm

Chris Goodall wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 5:41 pm

His female co-commentator was feeding him those controversial lines and laughing about it.

FIDE canned him for pointing out that the WGM title literally rewards "playing well for a girl", and is designed to.

My good friend Fiona did an excellent job of combining keeping the show ticking over with quizically dealing with the sexist's offensive remarks.

Smirin is back according to this tweet