Women's In-Tournament Training

[Louise Sinclair]

Louise, this sounds extremely bitter that you haven't won a title. Perhaps if you had, you would be less against womens chess

Do stop making assumptions Sabrina. How could I win something I never went after. I'm not in the least bitter about my lack of female achievements. However you are getting personal with your remarks about testosterone and attributing emotions to me which I don't possess.

[IanDavis]

Louise, this sounds extremely bitter that you haven't won a title. Perhaps if you had, you would be less against womens chess

ho ho

So are we saying that we should scrap all the junior sections too? I mean, why should they play in these age groups, why not just compete with adults straight away? It might make them grow up to think they are not as good as everyone else. Should all juniors refuse to enter junior events?

The junior angle is always an amusing one to bring up. Louise's view is one that is certainly not uncommon. There are women out there who feel that women only events and special women's titles etc are demeaning and sexist. (I know one national mind sport association which abolished their female championship). Equally, there are other women who like these events and support them. Special categories are created to pamper specific groups, it is inevitable that some will object to these. Whether the category be junior, veteran, minor, major, female, blind, homosexual or Conservative, is pretty inconsequential. You can have fun discussing what the correct thing to do is though. This is the one that generates most debate.

[Louise Sinclair]

regarding an earlier observation about teenagers giving up chess I think the answer is simple. At the age of about 13 they discover the joys of fashion, cosmetics, music, illicit alcohol, partying and sex.
I didn't play chess as a teenager I was too busy living a riotous life and when recuperating from a hectic night I usually had my head stuck into a book

[Sabrina Chevannes]

Louise, this sounds extremely bitter that you haven't won a title. Perhaps if you had, you would be less against womens chess

Do stop making assumptions Sabrina. How could I win something I never went after. I'm not in the least bitter about my lack of female achievements. However you are getting personal with your remarks about testosterone and attributing emotions to me which I don't possess.

Not an assumption, as I didn't say you ARE bitter, I said this comment sounds bitter. Slight difference.

[Adam Raoof]

regarding an earlier observation about teenagers giving up chess I think the answer is simple. At the age of about 13 they discover the joys of fashion, cosmetics, music, illicit alcohol, partying and sex.
I didn't play chess as a teenager I was too busy living a riotous life and when recuperating from a hectic night I usually had my head stuck into a book

To be fair, teenage boys have riotous hormones too! However they keep playing chess in large numbers. What we want is to keep the girls playing chess in equally large numbers or, failing that, encourage women back into chess later on - perhaps though University clubs.

[Alan Walton]

The negative side: I’m not a fan of free entry for women. I’m not opposed to women not having to pay to play but it does stick in my craw to think that these players are eligible to win money that they haven’t contributed too. For me it should be you either pay to play and qualify for prizes or you enter for free and enjoy your games and social activities but you don’t get to walk away with money that the males have stumped up.

Does that not sound fair?

My point exactly

Do you feel the same about discounts for juniors, unemployed, senior citizens? I use those examples because they are not chess related eg by title or rating.

Or would you be happier if they were to receive free entry but couldn't win a prize?

It is a good point you have raised here, regarding juniors and senior citizens (of both sexes), these people do generally in society received concessionary discounts, which is fully acceptable and therefore I have no problems with them received discounted entry fees, the unemployed is a different kettle of fish and maybe leave that discussion for a future date.

The point is, it is generally thought off as "illegal" to discrimate against gender and all parts of society, so that is the view I take, though sooner or later we will get on the subject of ageism

[Louise Sinclair]

Sabrina
You are being very personal in your observations about me.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

Sabrina
You are being very personal in your observations about me.

And you are being very negative about us trying to achieve a good thing. So again, I will leave this matter behind and say see everyone tomorrow who is coming to what I hope will be a great event!

[IanDavis]

To be fair, teenage boys have riotous hormones too! However they keep playing chess in large numbers. What we want is to keep the girls playing chess in equally large numbers or, failing that, encourage women back into chess later on - perhaps though University clubs.

Most of my school chess playing friends quit before the age of 15. They were all male.

[Justin Hadi]

What a bunch of girls!

[Alex Holowczak]

I bet Sean is thinking 'bloody hell , I offered free entry and all I get is 10 pages of bloody debate on the forum'.

Could be worse. Carl offered us a link to a funding paper, and got 53 pages of debate about it!

[Louise Sinclair]

Most of my school chess playing friends quit before the age of 15. They were all male.

To be fair, teenage boys have riotous hormones too! However they keep playing chess in large numbers. What we want is to keep the girls playing chess in equally large numbers or, failing that, encourage women back into chess later on - perhaps though University clubs.

Most of my school chess playing friends quit before the age of 15. They were all male.

yes that doesn't surprise me. The majority of children who learn chess drop the game during their teenage years because at that time in their life it isn't a main priority.
Often it is a hobby they return to slightly later in life. I learned the game at the age of seven. However the school chess club closed and as I knew nobody who played I didn't resume chess until I hit my twenties and was looking for a cheap pastime while putting a deposit on my house. I doubt that it is unusual to learn chess early in life and resume after a break of a few years.

[Sean Hewitt]

I bet Sean is thinking 'bloody hell , I offered free entry and all I get is 10 pages of bloody debate on the forum'.

I think its incredible idea. I am mainly playing the event because of it.

Ben

I'm wondering how much all this free advertising would have cost me

[Richard James]

To be fair, teenage boys have riotous hormones too! However they keep playing chess in large numbers.

Off-topic (probably just as well), but teenage boys don't keep playing chess in large numbers in this country, and haven't done so for the past 30 years.

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

Do you feel the same about discounts for juniors, unemployed, senior citizens? I use those examples because they are not chess related eg by title or rating.

Or would you be happier if they were to receive free entry but couldn't win a prize?

There is common link between the 3 examples above. They all have a low income. The same cannot be said of women (please less us not start on that debate).