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 ?
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I think the truth is, there are a variety of factors which explain the massive skill difference at the top level between men and women chess players.
Chess requires a large amount of training and teaching from a young age. Historically this was something that was only afforded to men throughout most cultures, hence there is some historical sociocultural advantages that men have.
Although nowadays this is less as any chess club that would refuse a girl based on sex would instantly be shut down, but these kinds of things can still permeate.
There is also the statistical mathematical factor which explains some proportion of the gap. Far more young boys for whatever reason play and learn chess than young girls. If there are less women participating overall, it would be natural to observe less women at the highest level, in similar ratios.
This is interesting because this itself is a gap that probably has a multitude of factors contributing to it e.g. sociocultural norms, inherent interest, etc.
There is also the argument that this works in reverse I.e. young boys are better than young girls for whatever reason, and attrition rates are lower in things you are good at.
There is also probably some biological component. Twin studies show intellectual capabilities are heavily biologically driven, up to 70% is genetic, and mens brains are biologically very different to women’s. In general they have been shown in some studies to be better at pattern recognition and memory based tasks, two skills probably very useful to have for a game like chess. Similarly to how’s its been shown that men are on average more competitive and are not driven to quit due to competition as often, another mental trait driven by biology to some degree.
The truth is the last point is often ignored or dismissed because it can be demeaning or contradictory to the idea that biology plays no part in the differing mental traits.
However statistically it probably does, and if we’re trying to be honest in finding the truth behind the gap in women’s vs men’s skill at the highest level, it wouldn’t be accurate to dismiss it, just like it wouldn’t be accurate to dismiss the other factors.
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