28-11-2012, 11:24 PM
I've always assumed main advantage to being female in chess is WFM title that you can get at around 1600ish strength and gives free entry to some events and is apparently even useful for gaining norms for unisex titles.
I don't really see how making a female player mandatory would really help the game since I think main problem in chess is that there is a strong gender bias so that for example in my club we have around 20 members or which around 20 are male. We also have a venue that could perhaps be described as a slightly macho football pub where I'm sure there must have been a woman in it once not that I can recall such an event. It's a similar problem to what traditionally happened to golf clubs.
To look at problem from reverse perspective it might be akin to asking chess players to partake in ballet so rather than dubious rule refinements chess probably needs to reinvent it's image.
When you look at likes of Judit Polgar you can see women can compete at very top level on an equal footing with men and in SNCL I had the privilege of playing a female player who is much better than me who earnt her place on squad on her own merit and it would be fantastic to get more in future but I think it really needs to start at grass roots.
I don't really see how making a female player mandatory would really help the game since I think main problem in chess is that there is a strong gender bias so that for example in my club we have around 20 members or which around 20 are male. We also have a venue that could perhaps be described as a slightly macho football pub where I'm sure there must have been a woman in it once not that I can recall such an event. It's a similar problem to what traditionally happened to golf clubs.
To look at problem from reverse perspective it might be akin to asking chess players to partake in ballet so rather than dubious rule refinements chess probably needs to reinvent it's image.
When you look at likes of Judit Polgar you can see women can compete at very top level on an equal footing with men and in SNCL I had the privilege of playing a female player who is much better than me who earnt her place on squad on her own merit and it would be fantastic to get more in future but I think it really needs to start at grass roots.