If men and women are equal why have separate Chess Tounaments for women?

Question

I am told there is this Suzan Polgar Chess Tournament exclusively for women. As we all believe that women are no less intellectually gifted than men I do not understand why there should be a separate tournament for a board game which only depends on mind power. I am also told that women have different ratings and rules for achieving Masters and Grandmasters. Why?

Answer 1

Because (until very recently at least) women have simply not been as accomplished at the game as men. In the pre WWII era the only player who even had a chance at being competitive with her male counterparts was Vera Menchik--and she usually finished well down on the tournament crosstables. In the 1970's Nona Gaprindashvili became the first-ever GM to achieve the male GM title--although even then she did not technically fulfill all the requirements, and was granted the title by committee decree (a situation not wholly unprecedented for male recipients, by the way). Also, people (okay, men) often tended to question the playing style of women; it was said to be unimaginative and stolid--lacking a certain fire which (apparently) was somehow the product of testosterone. The advent of the Polgar sisters however dispelled (or certainly should have) all this sort of talk. They achieved the unprecedented feat of two siblings bearing the (male) GM title; the nearest to this that I can think of is the American Byrne brothers, Robert (GM) and Donald (IM). Also the third sister Sofia is an IM. Susan became a GM first and retired for a bit to raise her family; Judit stepped in and eventually made her way onto the list of the world's top 10. And their styles are very dynamic and interesting--in short, "they play like men." And with the recent advent of Samantha Glo Revita (an 8 year old who already is not far from master strength) and many others, it looks like this long-standing discrepancy is evaporating at last.

Answer 2

The problem for us Men is that when we say the Trues, we get attacked from every Female on earth. There are some things that are unpolite to say.

Fact is:

Even today when Woman have exactly the same chance to access Internet-Onlinechess, go in Chessclubs etc. they are not doing it. In the Munich Chessclub which had a Womens section with 25 female players came one time a medium talented male player and he needed around 1 year to be stronger as all females who was playing for 10 years and longer. This is only a example. In the World Ranking List is only 1 Women under the Top 20, under the Top 1000 only 2%.

I am sure that Women have other qualities but it seems that logical games are not in this list. This includes Go and other board games.

Women have no different ratings, infact they got 15 years ago 100 points extra to get adjusted to the males ratings. What happened? The Female players lost nearly all this points back to the Male players and then was back to their original Level. They have much easier Categories to handle to become Masters. but a REAL Masterplayer knows anyway how to handle a female Master. I am myself a Elo 2520 rated Player. I am in the world rankinglist around Place 500-600. If I would be a female Player then I would be with this rating in the Top 5 of the World. So much about their Level. I would very likely win against all Women Players, except Zsusar Polgar, who is 2715 rated and Worldclass. But she got in the current Worldchampionchip from GM Bareev easy beaten, but had a better rating. You can expect that a male Player with a lower Rating (-50) is still better as a female Player.

To make it clear, i am not against female Players, I am happy that there come now more and more (specially from India and China), but i just wanted to tell the trues without hiding behind gentleman-statements.

I hope it will change in the future ...

Answer 3

This question puts things in an entirely wrong perspective. Just look at the answers you've gotten so far.

There is a championship for men AND women.

AND there is a championship for women only.

Generally the women chess population is not as strong, but you can clearly see this is changing due to increasing interest and professionalism.

However, individual women are free to play in the mens championship! Compare this to other sports please. Did you ever see a woman in a national soccer team? Alright. Thanks. No more comments.

Answer 4

It because no matter how equal players are in the technical aspects of the game... playing against the opposite sex will undoubtedly turn into a battle between the sexes. Chess tournaments want to generate interest in the game, not animosity.

Answer 5

As a former chess teacher that question bugged me for kids tournaments. (Top female gets a trophy, but not top male?)

The problem is societal, maybe they are equal now, but even in this country go back 50 years and it is not so. Now go to other countries and tell me the women in, say, India or China are equal. (I did not even go to Arab countries.)

Unfortunately the problem will persist. Around the time of puberty girls will lose to boys on purpose so as to not hurt their feelings or because they like them or something.

Around 12 years old, girls drop out of chess clubs.

Answer 6

You have not been everywhere arround the world. Women from many places in Africa and Asia are not equal.

Also it could be to encourage other women to take up chess.

Did you know that a young girl age 9

Answer 7

the whole world does not see the sexes as equal.
Men and women are equal with it comes to mental ability.
OR maybe it is because women can break men's concentration so easy.... THEY would loose all the time. lol
We have a long way to go before we are all treating each other the way we should in so many different ways.

Best Wishes

Answer 8

Here is the problem. Men and women are fundamentally unequal. Not to be sexist, but I believe it is true. Women don't get drafted, aren't under as much social pressure to make money and work, they think differently, etc. . . .

I am not saying it is correct, but I believe that is the basis for that tournament standard.

Just my opinion.

Answer 9

The best way for me to explain why there are different teams is metaphorically.

Lets say there are three men on an island and they come upon a genie lamp. They rub it and each man has one wish. The first one quickly says I wish I was smart enough to get off this island. He is all of a sudden able to build a boat. The second one thinks to himself and say's wow! I wish I was 100 times smarter than him. And wouldn't you know out of no where he can build a cruiseliner. So the third one says I wish I was a 1000 times smarter. And he turns into a woman.

Answer 10

What do you mean, "Why do they have seperate Chess Tounaments (tournaments) for women?" I think the correct way to say it would be, "Why do they have seperate chess tournaments for MEN?" lol Sorry, I couldn't resist.