Media comments on chess

[Steven DuCharme]

I knew it

[Mick Norris]

Chess on Radio 5 live this am - reaction to Nigel Short saying women can't think logically to play chess, I didn't catch the exact words he was said to have used, but more negative coverage of chess

[Clive Blackburn]

Chess on Radio 5 live this am - reaction to Nigel Short saying women can't think logically to play chess, I didn't catch the exact words he was said to have used, but more negative coverage of chess

This is the story in the Independent.... it's not just chess apparemtly, women can't drive either!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 88487.html

There are reactions from Amanda Ross and Sabrina Chevannes.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Chess on Radio 5 live this am - reaction to Nigel Short saying women can't think logically to play chess, I didn't catch the exact words he was said to have used, but more negative coverage of chess

It’s the reaction to an article in the latest New in Chess.

Also covered in high-quality prestigious journals last week (where you can see a scan of some of the text of the original piece)
http://www.streathambrixtonchess.blogsp ... y-car.html


and shoddy johnny-come-lately outfits such as the Daily Telegraph today.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/ches ... chess.html

[Roger de Coverly]

It’s the reaction to an article in the latest New in Chess.

It's taken a while to cross over into the mainstream press. Anyone want to speculate as to why?

There's a possible underpin to the article that Nigel has some form of ongoing feud with ex Women's World Champion, Susan Polgar, and her husband.

(edit) The story seems to be spreading

It's reached the Guardian as well

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/a ... yers-women

(/edit)

[Nigel Short]

I never said women cannot think logically to play chess. That is a wicked misrepresentation of my views.

[Alan Walton]

I have read these articles, and I agree that it never said they cannot think logically, I read it that it says the brain is wired differently and logical thinking may be one of those areas affected

It does remind me something Steve Davis said about women snooker player (I think it was last year), and he comments were very similar

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/m ... ndemnation

[Jonathan Rogers]

The Guardian will really hit the roof next year when Everyman publishes Kasparov's latest title, on the strongest women world champions My Weaker so-called Equivalents

[Jonathan Bryant]

I have read these articles...

(my emphasis).

If you want to know what was actually said it’s probably best not to start with the newspaper articles. They’re mostly reaction, after all.

If you want to know what was actually written - and the context in which it was written - you have to go the original source.

It's taken a while to cross over into the mainstream press. Anyone want to speculate as to why?

New in Chess is - relatively speaking - a niche market. Even amongst hardcore chessers I’d guess only a small percentage subscribe. It takes a while for stuff written there to filter though.

My guess - "idle ill-informed speculation" if you prefer - is that Leon Watson got to hear about it and then wrote his piece. The Independent came after. Then Radio4 and Sky News.

[Jon Mahony]

Oh dear, that’s going to go on a while Just need RDK to stir it a bit now.

[Clive Blackburn]

The subject of Women's Chess and whether or not their brains are hardwired differently is to be discussed on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, starting at 10am.

You can always catch it on iplayer later.

[Clive Blackburn]

The subject of Women's Chess and whether or not their brains are hardwired differently is to be discussed on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, starting at 10am.

You can always catch it on iplayer later.

The item has just begun, so about 15 mins in for those catching up later.

[Stewart Reuben]

There was an Any Questions session at the British Championships in 1985 in Edinburgh. Bill Hartston opined that women's chess should perhaps be considered different from men's, in the same way as women's tennis has a separate appeal from men's.
As chairman, I hurriedly moved the discssion on!
Earlier in 1982 there was considerable discussion about positive discrimination in the British Championship and whether more women should qualify for the event. In Torquay Ray Keene played Sheila Jackson. The game lasted 100 moves, going through several adjournents. Leonard Barden caught up on the controversy and wrote about it in The Guardian. It didn't result in a media frenzy, but there were a couple of TV pieces. Ray eventually won.
The qualification rules have remained substantially unchanged since. We have been pioneers in encouraging women to play in open tournaments. It is interesting that Brian Callaghan in Gibraltar has followed the same principle, without our having first discussed it.

How do I get the Radio 4 Women's Hour program, having missed it?

[Michael Farthing]

Was the CEO in breach of the Code of Conduct by not first communicating the contents on the ECF forum?

[IM Jack Rudd]

How do I get the Radio 4 Women's Hour program, having missed it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05r3td1