Nigel accused of sexism

[Tal]

You may have seen that chess Grandmaster and once World Title Challenger, Nigel Short, recently wrote an article on women in chess. No stranger to controversy, perhaps even he didn't expect the reaction he got.

http://rt.com/uk/251185-women-chess-logic-sexism/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/chess/11548840/Nigel-Short-Girls-just-dont-have-the-brains-to-play-chess.html

And every other national and worldwide publication has found room to circulate an opinion on the article.

So, what did he actually say?

http://en.chessbase.com/post/vive-la-diffrence-the-full-story

I couldn't help read the article and liken Judit Polgar to Vanessa Selbst. Poker and chess are, without question, similar games and have not-dissimilar attendance ratios when it comes to gender.

Is Short out of order to write:

"With the aid of a couple of bell curves this foursome neatly solve the eternal chess conundrum of why women lag behind their male counterparts, while simultaneously satisfying that irritating modern psychological urge to prove all of us, everywhere, are equal. Only a bunch of academics could come up with such a preposterous conclusion which flies in the face of observation, common sense and an enormous amount of empirical evidence too."

...is he trying to push for equality in a more rational way...

...or is he just making waves for his own amusement and he has an event to publicise?

Does this extend to poker? Should there be more (higher?) prizes for best woman in a tournament?

Or is it all chauvinistic misogyny and we should leave the bloke to his own devices and get on with our lives?

[DaveShoelace]

Was expecting this to be about Nigel Farage.

[Tal]

Was expecting this to be about Nigel Farage.

YSWIDT

"Chess bloke says something" would be a far less inviting title.

[Doobs]

For those who don't care for Chess, that Telegraph artcile has a good quiz at the bottom. 

[Tal]

An interesting amalgamation of what has happened in the press:

http://www.chess.com/news/media-storm-over-grandmaster-gender-column-9730

Oh, and the man himself is standing his ground firmly on Twitter (@nigelshortchess)

My favourite so far:

Becky Martin
@nigelshortchess so you really think that women are naturally less adept at chess? That's interesting. Fancy a game?

Nigel Short
Sure.
5:28 am - 22 Apr 2015

[Redsgirl]

I think that women are less successful at chess due to the fact that they are genetically unable to go into a public toilet without at least two companions, so have much fewer opportunities to cheat. 

[Mohican]

I think that women are less successful at chess due to the fact that they are genetically unable to go into a public toilet without at least two companions, so have much fewer opportunities to cheat. 

Ha. like it.