Should Women's Chess Be Abolished?

'Scrapping titles like WIM, WGM and a separate women's category will kill women's interest in chess.'

Strong reactions were voiced by chess masters on the need for separate sections for lady players following Grandmaster R Vaishali's comment that titles like Woman International Master (WIM) and Woman GM (WGM) should be scrapped.

In an interview to a daily newspaper Vaishali agreeed with GM Judit Polgar that titles like WIM and WGM can create a false sense of achievement.

Removing such titles could inspire more women to compete directly for the GM norm, Vaishali said.

Vaishali, who won the bronze medal in the women's section of the FIDE World Blitz Championship last month, is silent on the need for a separate section for lady chess players.

"Chess is a game of brain and mind. There need not be a separate category for women," asserts WIM Rohini Khadilkar, one of the pioneers of Indian women chess players.

Several decades ago Rohini fought her way to the national chess championship over-riding opposition from male players and the All India Chess Federation.

"There need not be rapid and blitz games as well. There, the clock plays a major part and not the players. Even players with winning positions may lose on time. Chess is a game of strategies," Rohini explained.

"Until there are an equal number of new GMs (men and women earning this title) each year and more women reaching the 2700 level (ELO rating), everything should remain the same," Susan Polgar, the former women's World Chess Champion and the winner of 12 Olympiad medals of which four were gold, said.

"Having women titles doesn't give women a false sense of achievement. It gives them a lifeline to stay in chess, and opportunities to get sponsorships or assistance to continue their careers," Polgar added.

Reacting to Vaishali's comments, India's first WGM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi said: "Scrapping titles like WIM, WGM and a separate women's category will kill women's interest in chess."

"Any female who wants to abolish the women's titles should prove their theory by not competing in any women's tournaments such as the women's world championships, women's Candidates tournaments, women's Olympiad, or women's prizes in tournaments and others," Susan remarked.

Susan said she had never applied for the WGM title even though she had earned it as a 12-year-old girl.

"I wanted to be the best overall and I was blocked every step of the way -- I document it in my upcoming autobiography The Rebel Queen. Therefore, I was never officially a WGM," Susan said.

"But it would be selfish of me to demand other women not to apply for it, or wanting to abolish this title," Susan added.

"Every woman knows their personal situations best. If they don't want the titles, then don't apply for them. But don't stop what is right for others."

"No doubt chess is a mind game. There is a bigger issue beyond the mental one -- women's physiology. These are the things that men don't experience," Vijayalakshmi said.

"I risked everything to clear the hurdles for other women to have a chance to compete against men on equal footing. Women have more than enough handicaps in chess. They do not need more hindrance," Susan said.

According to Vijayalakshmi, women's sports in India are evolving and it needs lots of effort to perform. Travel is a major issue for women sportspersons in India.

"I do not wish to make it look personal at all, but the esteemed ladies who have expressed views about abolishing women's titles, all have had the best of the opportunities and have no idea whatsoever of the challenges faced and struggles of other lady players," said GM Pravin Thipsay.

"These ladies could go and play whenever, wherever they wanted, had absolute support from parents, schools and had no constraints or restraints. All of them had at least one parent accompanying them all the time. Do even one percent of lady players have that privilege?" asked Thipsay.

As things stand, less than eight percent of chess players are female. This is because of the problems in supporting a girl child compared to a boy child, Thipsay said.

"I doubt if physical strength matters in billiards, snooker, shooting or archery. The requirement is not shooting at a longer distance. Why separate tournaments for the 10 metre pistol?" asked Thipsay.

Pointing out the lack of recognition and equality for women sports at the international level in terms of prize money and others Vijayalakshmi said the one good thing is that women can compete in the open category and play against men.

"It is not that Indian women chess players do not play in Open tournaments. Perforce they have to compete in the Open category to increase their ELO ratings as there are not sufficient women's tournaments in the country. Even to get my WGM norms, I had to play in the Open category tournaments," Vijayalakshmi said.

"In every sport, the international federation has separate categories for women. This is the result of modern civilised culture. In barbaric times, the physically weaker ones were looked at with disrespect and contempt," Thipsay said.

"With the revelation that women could be better than men in many fields, the approach of looking at women changed. Starting separate events for women was a result of a superior culture. Such 'only for women' events were accepted as a part of the right to equality," Thipsay explained.

"FIDE (the International Chess Federation), perhaps being more intellectual than other sports federations, decided to give a special privilege to women -- a chance to play in so-called 'men's tournaments'. This can be called a 'special condition'," Thipsay added.

Questioning how the abolition of WIM, WGM titles would help women players, Thipsay, like Susan, said such proponents can refrain from playing in women's tournaments.

In India, titles like WIM, WGM open the gates for jobs, sponsorships and awards. Abolishing them will not be of any help for women chess players.

"Human science has not been able to trace the reason why a girl and boy don't play equally well even as beginners. Even the U-6 championship has a difference. Similarly, science has not been able to trace why women are better at stuffing things in a more compact and systematic manner than men," said Thipsay.

Abolishing women's tournaments could even endanger the 'Sports' status of chess, cautioned Thipsay. It may start getting treated as a competition of elocution or mathematics, not a sport.

Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com