Magnus Carlsen-Hans Niemann chess cheating overshadowed sexism
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen accused Hans Niemann of cheating. It drowned out a separate controversy involving women and sexism.
In September, the high-stakes world of elite chess was rocked by a new cheating scandal. Grandmaster and world champion Magnus Carlsen accused teen prodigy Hans Niemann of cheating, an accusation that has led to layers of conspiracy theory and speculation.
That debacle mostly drowned out a separate controversy happening in a different corner of the chess world. Last week, Israeli grandmaster Ilya Smirin was fired from his commentary gig after questioning the need for gender parity during a live broadcast of the Women’s Grand Prix.
Why are we, yet again, being forced to explain that women are just as capable of men when it comes to playing the game?
As a female chess player and teacher, these types of comments are as dispiriting as they are exhausting. Why are we, yet again, being forced to explain that women are just as capable of men when it comes to playing the game? We certainly lack the exposure and support that men enjoy. But we shouldn’t have to defend our basic abilities or biological bonafides. We shouldn’t have to push back on men who say women’s brains aren’t capable of functioning at the same level as a man’s.
Smirin’s comments were not an isolated event, although they were relatively highly publicized (for chess). Back in February, the Marshall Chess Club (one of the world’s top chess clubs, and one that has lately worked to better represent its female members) published a joke about sex with underage girls that no one seems to have noticed (or at least, not minded). At the 50th U.S. Amateur Team East tournament earlier this spring, a chess team named itself “She Said She Was 1800,” a pun on both chess ratings and the age of sexual consent that led to “defeaning applause,” according to the Marshall Chess Club’s newsletter.
Rating: 5