UK grandmaster provokes anger and derision with suggestion we should ‘gracefully accept’ that men are more able to play at high competitive level

Nigel Short, one of the UK’s greatest chess players, has incurred the wrath of the female chess community after claiming men are “hardwired” to be better at the game than women. Short, who won his first grandmaster title when he was 19, told New In Chess magazine that we should “gracefully accept it as a fact” that men possess different skills to women that make them better able to play chess at a high level.

Asked about his thoughts on the lack of women competing in chess, Short, 49, said: “Why should they function in the same way? I don’t have the slightest problem in acknowledging that my wife possesses a much higher degree of emotional intelligence than I do.



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“Likewise, she doesn’t feel embarrassed in asking me to manoeuvre the car out of our narrow garage. One is not better than the other, we just have different skills. It would be wonderful to see more girls playing chess, and at a higher level, but rather than fretting about inequality, perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact.”

The comments have been derided as both sexist and ignorant by those in the chess community. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Amanda Ross, who runs the Casual Chess club in London, said it was “incredibly damaging when someone so respected basically endorses sexism”. “Judith Polgar, the former women’s world champion, beat Nigel Short eight classical games to three in total with five draws,” she said.

“She must have brought her man brain. Let’s just hope Nigel didn’t crash his car on those days, trying to park it. At least this resolves the age-old debate as to whether there’s a direct link between chess-playing ability and intelligence. Clearly not.”

Short responded on Twitter, claiming that Ross seemed “to suffer from incomprehension”.

Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) @CasualChess @NewInChess No. You seem to suffer from incomprehension. Men and women do have different brains. This is a biological fact.

He wrote: “Men and women do have different brains. This is a biological fact. Furthermore, I never said women have inferior brains. That is your crude and false attempt to caricature me.”

Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) @CasualChess @NewInChess Furthermore I never said women have inferior brains. That is your crude and false attempt to caricature me.

Short also elaborated on his comments on Sky News, reiterating his belief that “it’s quite easy to demonstrate there is a fairly substantial gap between men and women”. “Women have all sorts of skills where they are superior to men” he said, adding that the fact Polgar had once beaten him was irrelevant to his general point.

“The fact that I have one bad score against an individual doesn’t prove anything” he said. “I’m talking about averages here … statistically women don’t [compete] in the same numbers. The average gap is pretty large and that is down to sex differences … Those differences exist.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nigel Short interviewed by Sky News on Monday

Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) @KayBurley @Newsagentprovoc Of the top 100 chess players, 98 are men. It will be 99 when @GMJuditPolgar falls off the list in August. #facts

Rita Atkins, a British International chess master, described Short’s comments as “damaging”. She said: “I completely disagree with him and he should not say things like that. It is a fact that there are many more men than women playing chess at a very high level but it is nothing to do with the way our brains work or our mental ability.”

Atkins said her experience as both a chess player and now a teacher had given her insight into the reasons why such a gender gap remains in chess. “I teach a lot of chess to schoolkids and I think it is to do with the fact that girls shy away from aggressive competitiveness at a young age whereas young boys are very competitive. I think that is the main reason why girls don’t get into it as much when they are young, and so don’t get to competition level.”

This is not the first time issues of sexism in the world of competitive chess have arisen. There has never been a female World Open chess champion, nor a female British Open champion.



Sue Maroroa, a British women’s international master, said there was general attitude within the chess community that women were worse at the game than men.

She said: “Sometimes when I go to a new chess club, I can tell the guys don’t think I can play, so that kind of attitude I can relate to. There is an attitude within the chess community that women are worse than men. It’s just like any old boys’ club which is dominated by older men who still have that attitude, ‘Oh, she’s a girl, so she can’t play.’ But I know my capabilities, so I just take it within my stride.”

She was echoed by Sabrina Chevannes, a British women’s international master, who said that an entrenched culture of sexist jokes and overbearing male superiority had led to a huge dropout rate among female players. “Unfortunately, I do think there is a lot of sexism at every level of chess, from beginners right the way up to the top. We have to admit that it’s there. It has been been present throughout my entire chess career and will be present for years to come. Nigel’s views are pretty representative of most of the men who are competing in chess.



“Generally when I’ve gone to a tournament, they’ll ask me if my child is playing because they presume I’m the mother of a player, or even ask if I’m the wife of someone playing. God forbid I would actually be there to play. And if they did find out I was a player, they’ll always assume I’m in the beginners section. They assume I’m terrible because I’m female and it is completely infuriating.”



Writing on Twitter, Polgar simply said: “Men and women are different but there are different ways of thinking and fighting still achieving the same results.”

Judit Polgar (@GMJuditPolgar) Men and women are different but there are different ways of thinking and fighting still achieving the same results :) http://t.co/IPsiP8NJJ1

Short’s comments also prompted Chess Club Live, a website for the chess community, to publicly condemn the remarks. Writing on Twitter, they said: “Most people in the chess world respect Nigel Short as much as he respects women.

Chess Club Live (@ChessClubLive) Most people in the chess world respect @NigelShortChess as much as he respects women.

“What’s even more ridiculous about Nigel Short’s derogatory comments about Women in Chess is that he has a daughter.”

Chess Club Live (@ChessClubLive) What's even more ridiculous about @NigelShortChess derogatory comments about Women in Chess is he has a daughter. #GodHelpHer

It is not the first time Short has been accused of making sexist remarks in relation to chess. In a column in New in Chess magazine in 2012, he described a 1992 chess Olympiad in Manila in the Philippines thus: “All Olympiads have their volunteers, but Manila 1992 was unsurpassed in the sheer volume of totty,” he wrote. “There were literally hundreds of smiling and invariably polite 18-20-something-year-old [Filipina] hostesses. Not a few liaisons were struck up during the course of two weeks.”

Short acknowledged the problem of sexism, but insisted his comments were not making it any worse. He told Sky News: “I think probably sexism is an issue in chess and I wouldn’t try and escape from that.”