After the great success of The Queen’s Gambit, interest in chess has increased around the world, but even the character here is inspired by the story of a male chess player (Bobby Fischer). So why are men more successful in this game than women?
For centuries, chess has been directly associated with intelligence. When you see a very successful chess player, that person he is very smart You can also think about it, but it is not an indicator of intelligence by itself.
When we look at the best players in this field, a clear predominance of men exists. Top 100 chess players list only 1 woman the most concrete proof of this.
Some male grandmasters have said that women cannot be good at chess.
American Grandmaster, considered one of the greatest chess players in history Bobby FischerIn an interview he gave in 1962, referring to female chess players, “I guess that’s all. they are not smart‘ he said. On the other hand, another Grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, 27 years after Fischer’s announcement “Chess is not for women.” She said that this game is not for women.
The fact that the two biggest players of the chess world made such a statement caused the interest of women in chess to be broken and the public opinion that chess was better for women. that you are not suitable gave rise to thought.
Could there be a biological reason why women fail at chess?
There are two theories that look from different perspectives to explain why men are more successful at chess than women. According to the first theory, this difference is from hormonal difference originates.
To be victorious in chess take risks and a fierce battle with your opponent enter the competition needs. According to this theory, women take less risks because there is less testosterone in women. avoids competition. On the other hand, this situation a biological reason The number of people who think that it is not is not at all.
The reason women fail at chess may be events that take place outside the game board.
Sister of Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgár, ‘Men always get headaches when they lose against me… I did not beat a healthy man‘ he said.
In this case, there is a thought that there must always be a problem for men to beat a woman. This situation is experienced by every actress at every age, and when women can no longer bear this psychological state, moving away from chess.
An experiment comparing men and women suggested that everything was psychological.
In this experiment, male and female chess players, anonymously played with each other in an ambiguous way over the internet. While genders are unclear, both genders equally successful performance revealed.
Then, when both sides find out what gender they are playing and play a match again, results have changed. Women performed worse, while men performed better. This is actually the case when women meet men. psychologically It shows they started 1-0 behind.
We are at the beginning of an era in which women will have a greater say.
in 2001 internationally rated players only 6% were women. After 19 years, this rate has increased to 20%.
We can also say that the attitudes of male actors have begun to change. world champion Magnus Carlsen, admitted in a recent interview that they did not treat women very kindly. Magnus said, “For years, chess clubs have been very fond of women. he wasn’t kind. Of course, a little bit of culture there needs to be a change.” said.
There is no concrete answer yet why men are more successful in chess, but in general, psychological reasons come to the fore.
Hou Yifan He is on the list of the world’s top 100 chess players. as a single woman He continues his chess career.