7/27/18

Y Women Have Had a Separate Yet Equal Chess Game League History

There really isn’t such an item as women’s chess. Women have had their separate leagues and title rankings yet the game is the same.

Women have separate basketball leagues and the cultural history of males and females differs from nation to nation. Vera Menchiks was the first female chess champion and she was just a 1600 player as I recall. Her father was a manager of estates of a few Russian nobles so she had early exposure to the game. Most women were not so socially positioned. Vera Menchik - Wikipedia

Women play chess with men on-line a lot nowadays and I suppose in local chess clubs too. Women GMs or WGMs qualify for the title with fewer points required and that is a carry over from history when the average women did not rate as high as men on average. Susan Polgar played as a Super GM or plus 2700 player for several years, yet no other women has crossed that line.

Sometimes people talk about abolishing the women’s title’s and just lumping them in with the men. Maybe most chess players wouldn’t mind however many nations have systems that would.

Being a class A (plus 1800 rating) requires several years of study and work so many people just don’t want to put in the time. Achieving GM status at 2500–2700 requires an early start in life with years of learning and practice. A WGM title requires a 2300 rating. The title itself has some value in being a paid chess coach so I think it unlikely to be phased out soon.

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