Introduction

Chess ? But it’s not a sport !

Chess players often hear this remark. It’s become banal, almost benign. Yet these words subtly discredit a sporting pursuit. Denying the effort also denies the players’ legitimacy.

This isn’t new. In a sport long dominated by men, stereotypes persist. This male dominance raises a feminist question : why, in an intellectual game that is often said to require no physical effort, are women still so consistently under-ranked?

Today, women and men remain segregated within chess clubs and tournaments. There are women’s and mixed tournaments, yet in practice men mostly compete against men, while women primarily face other women. According to FIDE, 20% of registered active players are women, and most international tournaments remain predominantly male. [1]

Why such a gender divide ? Could it be, as Nigel Short, former FIDE vice-president, suggested in 2015, that women’s brains are biologically less capable than men’s ? There is no scientific consensus supporting this claim, and it has been widely criticized.

Within chess culture, beginners are disparagingly labelled « patzer ». As an old saying goes : « Patzer sees check, patzer gives check » In one-on-one matches against men, women’s performance often stalls. In the entire history of the top 100 chess players, only Judit Polgár has managed to break through. It’s not their fault if they’re a « little dim,» whispers the crowd.

Philosopher Iris Marion Young reminds us that domination is not only imposed from the outside, it is also internalized. In « Throwing Like a Girl » [2] , she shows how learned gestures gradually solidify into gendered identities. In a culture where the norm is male, running, throwing, thinking or « playing like a girl » invariably means doing less : with less strength, less seriousness, and, above all, less value. Over time, women end up believing it. They internalize this hierarchy as an inner limit.

Thus, chess demands intense concentration, mental endurance, and strategic sophistication, yet it remains a competitive space where women are few, undervalued, and frequently dismissed.

So what does it mean to « play like a girl » in chess ? And if this stigma, far from being a weakness, actually revealed the full strength of women’s play ?

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