It’s not a physical game, yet I have never seen any women playing against men. I remember once there was a charity game where men and women played but not official Fide tournaments.
Forgive me if they have, they r very rare at least.
Is there a proper reason ?
In: Other
Just to clarify, at amateur and semi-pro level girls’ & boys’ pools are combined, and there’s only one single tourney, and yes, girls can and do win them. It’s mostly just the Masters level FIDE tournaments, what you’d call “Pro chess”, that run a separate Women’s category
Since you said ELI5, there are 4 major issues / reasons:
1. Simply put, chess is a male-heavy game. To be a pro 99.9% you’ve gotta start at the age of 3-4. It takes serious training and tutoring (≡ $$$). And due to gender biases, parents have a lower risk appetite for girls. So, fewer girls get the necessary support to pursue this passion in their formative years, leading to fewer Women Masters.
2. Since there are fewer female pros, if FIDE only conducted a single tournament, very few women would ever get the chance to compete at the top level, which would only further worsen the female player pool. By having a women’s category, yes the ELO floor is lowered, but at least a good number of women get a chance to play at top level tourneys.
3. Even if women enter the Open category (remember, the categories are Open and Women’s, not Men’s and Women’s) it is accused that in the lower rounds disproportionately more women are played against each other. Women cite a malicious intent of protecting male egos and having women eliminate each other. Others say it’s done so all women are not eliminated in the early rounds by the men. What’s the truth, is anyone’s guess.
4. Just as any other sport, tourneys pay big bucks for winning and being near the top of the table. That’s how athletes get their names in the news and attract sponsors. If you were Yifan, the only 2600+ active female player, what is more practical? To win the Women’s category, prize pool and a photo with the trophy, or be a no-name 17th in the Open category?
All of the above, a complicated mix of gender biases, practical realities and financial implications work together, ending up making pro chess gendered.
PS: There is possibly another factor. Male IQ bell curve is observably flatter than the Female IQ curve, meaning, there’s a higher chance of men being either geniuses or mentally retarded, as compared to women. And there is a significant correlation between IQ and chess prowess, so that would seem like a “natural” explanation of fewer female pros. However, there is seriously low quality and conflicting data on all this, so at the moment, it’s best ignored.
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