Chess Victims

 I have written about this subject before on my old blog, though the last post was in 2018 not long before I actually stopped blogging. Before I start again here, a quick proviso. I'm not a woman, I'm a 56 year old heterosexual man. Does this preclude me from having an opinion? No, of course not, though generally speaking, I will try to cite those in a more relevant position to understand the full story.

So first, the issue is about FIDE banning Trans players from their events. There are stories across all the major news outlets, so pick any or a few. I've read articles in The Guardian, AP News, and the BBC. There are also views from the LGBTQ+ community, in for example Pink News. The major chess sites have nothing about it so far, though I'd expect some commentary in the coming days. Saying that, a lot of chess politics tends to be discussed on Facebook and Twitter which I no longer belong to, so I tend to find what chess players and officials have said through news sites nowadays.

This ban of Trans players comes in the wake of sexual harassment cases being brought to light in the chess world. One of the biggest chess playing sites, Lichess, came out last week with a statement which essentially accuses the US Chess Federation and St Louis Chess Club of mishandling the case of sexual harassment against GM Alejandro Ramirez and others. The mega chess site says it will no longer cooperate with the USCF or St Louis CC neither of which has "faced serious scrutiny or accountability" over these issues. 

So where am I going with this post? I'm going back to a severe criticism of FIDE and questioning my desire to be part of the organisation. I've left before, but that really doesn't do anything to stop what I see as blatant corruption and bigotry. Here are a few issues that are a problem for me:

1. Ukraine-Russia War: FIDE have not banned Russian players who play under a neutral flag, and calls for the Russian President of FIDE, Arkady Dvorkovich, to step aside have been ignored. As well as going against the dictates of most other sporting bodies regarding letting Russians compete, there have also been high level cases of Ukrainian players refusing to play in events with Russian players competing. This clearly shows that the victims are being made to pay doubly by FIDE.

FIDE banned Sergey Karjakin for openly supporting Putin and the war in Ukraine, but have subsequently done very little. In fact, they did nothing to sanction chess commentator Sergey Shipov for basically the same thing.

2. Cheating in chess: The infamous case of alleged cheating by American GM Hans Niemann by Magnus Carlsen and others. FIDE basically did nothing in this case, and seem to have done little in regards to cheating in chess. They wiped their hands of involvement instead of disciplining either side for bringing the game into disrepute, which is essentially what happened. 

3. Sexual assault: In my opinion, the biggest scandal to hit the chess world in the past few years is the sexual assault case brought to light by 8 women against GM Alejandro Ramirez. Unfortunately, this case represents just the tip of iceberg, and I don't see FIDE doing anything to address this major problem in chess. Women's only chess tournaments have been promoted for helping encourage more girls and women into the game officially. But in reality, they provide a safe space for women to play, because open tournaments aren't being policed properly. Misogyny and assault were the reason International Master Sabrina Chevannes stopped playing. Meanwhile, Tallulah Roberts was assaulted at the Reykjavik Open in 2022. The takeaway from these reports is that chess environments are not safe places for women, and that not a lot is being done to change that.

"It's the reason I stopped playing chess. It's completely prevalent, it's something that has been sat on and suppressed on for many years. I guess they don't want to ruin the image that chess is a gentleman's game." - Chevannes

“The chess world isn’t a safe place for us, and it’s time to stop pretending these issues are in the past or that people are only sexist online. It’s 2022 and this happens.” - Roberts

4. Trans Player ban: I'm really not sure what FIDE is doing here, as more often than not they tend to sit on the fence and do nothing. So for FIDE to actually ban Trans players is a statement by them. I have trans friends who play chess and I know that some of them struggle with their position in society, suffering depression, anxiety and even having suicidal thoughts. Every time they are victimised will only make matters worse for a minority that only want to be accepted for who they are. The most high profile trans chess player, French master Yosha Iglesias said on her Twitter account, “If you want to help women in chess, fight sexist and sexual violence, give women in chess more visibility and more money, don’t use trans women players as scapegoats. We contribute to the development of women in chess. We are women in chess.” This is a position I fully agree with. As an example of disparity, at the current World Cup tournament, the winner of the Open section will receive $US 110,000, whereas the winner of the Women's section will get $US 50,000, or less than half. The total prize money pool in the Open section is $US 1,843,000 whereas in the Women's section the total prize pool is $US 676,250, or about 1/3. And this works its way through the whole spectrum of the chess world, even at local level. The current State Championship in Victorian, Australia sees a total prize pool of $2000 where the winner will get $1000. The Women's Championship has a total prize pool of $1000 and the winner will get $500.

So victims are not being taken seriously by chess authorities at the International, National and Local levels and until they do the chess environment will only be safe for first world white hetero males. This most recent attack on Trans Players shows that chess is subject to ingrained bigotry at the organisational level, but I don't see where the necessary change is going to come from. Reading the comments at the end of any of the articles I've cited, especially from the chess sites, will show how deeply embedded bigotry is in the chess world.