Gender and Chess - The Ever-Changing, Never-Ending Question...

Checkmate

From: The Salt Lake City Tribune
"Checkmate"

MAY 14, 2000

At this writing, 23-year-old Judit Polgar of Hungary is fighting for top honors in a star-studded tournament in Bali, Indonesia. There is also the news that a Lithuanian teenager, Victorija Cmilyte, has won her country's national championship.

A recent issue of the British Chess magazine reveals that the top players for Oxford and Cambridge University teams during a recent match were two young women: Ruth Sheldon and Harriet Hunt. And as many readers already know, 16-year-old Irina Krush of New York is the strongest player her age male or female in the United States.

Despite the unprecedented frequency of honors for young women players, chess remains overwhelmingly a male domain as attested to by the most current international rankings which list only one woman - Judit Polgar - among the top 100 players.

A recent attempt to explain the discrepancy was made by World Champion Garry Kasparov who argues: "Chess demands immense strain and desire to always win. For many centuries this type of mentality has been formed in men, who are the militant part of the world's population. We need another 30 or 40 years in order to fill the difference between men's and women's intellect."

I would guess that most or all of the women chess players cited above will passionately disagree with both Kasparov's argument and timetable as will many of the rest of us who have been impressed by the ability, drive and competitiveness of women in other sports such as track, tennis, soccer and basketball.

Below is a "crushing" win by Irina Krush from a recent tournament in Oakham, England.

Alan Norris vs.Krush

1. c4 c6
2. d4 d5
3. e3 Nf6
4. Nf3 a6
5. c5 Bg4
6. b4 e5
7. Be2 e4
8. N(f)d2 Bxe2
9. Qxe2 g6
10. Nb3 Nh5
11. Nc3 f5
12. g3 Ng7
13. h4 Ne6
14. a4 Bg7
15. Ba3 O-O
16. b5 axb5
17. axb5 Nd7
18. Kd2 Nf6
19. Bb4 Rc8
20. Ba5 Qe7
21. Na4 Nh5
22. Nb6 R(c)e8
23. Bc3 f4
24. gxf4 N(h)xf4
25. exf4 Nxf4
26. Qe3 Ng2
27. Qg5 Rxf2ch
28. Kc1 Qf8
29. Kb1 Qf3

White resigns. Solution: 1. Ba4! Kxa4 2. Qa6 mate. Hint: Give the black king a move