The 'Queen of Chess' who defeated Kasparov

[Gerard Blake]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35483650

[Alan Bell]

"Then world champion Garry Kasparov was the most renowned player to question whether a woman could beat a man."

Hardly. I don't remember Gazza ever offering knight odds, unlike Fischer.

[John Blake]

Here's another interesting article

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[Duncan Grassie]

I've been saying for years that the only reason there are not as many women at the top of chess as men is that the "pyramid" of players from novice to grandmaster is not as wide from the base upwards. The frustrating thing I find with chess is that we have an ideal opportunity to market ourselves as the sport where sex does not make a difference. Instead tournament organisers try and distinguish as much as possible between male and female players by offering different entry fees and prize money which in my opinion makes women feel like they are some kind of 'special case' and somehow expected to play to a worse standard.

For me the ideal would be if we didn't notice that the person sitting opposite us was male or female just as we wouldn't notice if the player had blonde or dark hair.

[Mike Scott]

Hi Duncan
Tend to agree with you on this one - from when I was a lad (and no doubt before then) there has been this segregation or positive discrimination and yet I do not think there has been any noticeable change in the ratio of girls to boys playing the game.

It may be that there is a difference between men and women that means at the elite level men have some advantage - perhaps just worst BO - but the lack of top women is certain not proof. After all there is even fewer Scottish men in the worlds elite and I do not suppose that anyone would suggest that this was evidence of some inherent difference between them and the others.