In a recent New in Chess podcast interview with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, the best female chess player of all times – Judit Polgar – suggested abolishing women’s titles in chess.
“Lately I was thinking that is there something, let’s say one thing, that we could change and then maybe the environment and the life of chess and girls and women in chess would change.
And I thought that maybe it would be possible and it would be just a very good try to test it at least, to delete the women titles.
Why do we have women titles?
Why don’t you have title for 2000, for 2200, for 2300, for 2400, for 2500, isn’t it much better to have the rating titles and not that it’s women or men?
It does not matter if I play on an open tournament or a women tournament. I’m aiming to get this title. This title belongs to my rating, not to the gender question. It’s my strength. It’s my knowledge. It’s what I can perform, right? So I think that would be kind of a first step, which could be extremely simple solution and it would not hurt at all, nor women nor men.”
The proposal caused a heated discussion between the strong proponents and equally passionate opposition. Selection of the relevant tweets is below.
We got in touch with several female titled players and asked them for statements.
One of the top female players, IM Irina Bulmaga told us that she thinks Judit Polgar has a valid point about the womenโs titles. โI have also had this thought that they kind of make women feel like it’s good enough to get WIM or WGMโ, said Bulmaga, who has competed in the Romanian Open Chess Championship as the only female player in the field for the past two years.
Being asked if women titles are beneficial for women players as a step towards the higher goal and IM/GM titles, she said:
โIt is a difficult thing. You need to have those intermediate steps, they kind of are, like CM, NM, FMโฆ The only problem I see about cancelling the women’s titles is that they might question the need for women’s tournaments and Women’s World Championship cycle altogether. That is something I think we’re not ready for yet. Because there are too few women in chess, especially in professional chessโ.
WGM Tatiana Dornbusch, multiple-time Monaco Women’s Chess Champion and the highest-ranked female player in Monaco, said:
“I am from the generation of women’s titles. I fought hard to become WGM. And I appreciate it. Even if Polgar’s proposal sounds reasonable, we must safeguard women’s presence in chess, or they might simply disappear. It’s something that needs careful consideration and taking advice from different levels of the chess community.”
WGM Regina Pokornรก, who represents the interests of female chess players as the chair of the ECU Commission for Women’s Chess, elaborated on several pros and cons:
Judit’s personal view on breaking gender stereotypes by dismissing women’s titles has been around in chess for some time. Of course, I’ve already heard this idea in connection with dismissing solely girls’ and women’s chess tournaments. To be honest, for me, it’s personally not clear which side I should stand or defend, as both have their pros and cons.
I stopped playing chess professionally about 20 years ago and picked up a job outside the chess world. I’ve been working as a PM, PMO, and Account Manager, and it won’t be surprising if I say that I was never titled like Women’s PM, etc. In a professional job, the titles are based on your experience, education, qualification, skills, etc. So, this new perspective was also, for me, the point when I was thinkingโwhy distinguish between women’s and men’s titles in chess? Why not simply consider one criterionโthe player’s (current) strength, regardless of gender?
Women’s titles are sometimes seen by the chess community as inferior to men’s titlesโIโve personally seen this a couple of times.
From my personal experienceโI was extremely happy when I was awarded the WGM title at the age of 18. It was a big achievement for me, something I was very proud of, especially because I could see the fruits of my hard work, and I knew no one was going to take the title away from me.
Many girls get motivated by reaching WIM or WGM; itโs their self-motivation that keeps them with chess, why they want to play it, and work on themselves. Of course, Iโm not speaking for the whole female chess community, but I know many young girls whose dream is to become WIM or WGM, and they celebrate this success as an achievement in their chess lifeโand itโs good so. They celebrate a title as an achievement and get motivated to move towards higher goals, like IM/GM titles or other goals they set.
Public view on the titlesโpeople who are not chess players seldom distinguish if youโre a womenโs or menโs grandmaster. For people, โGrandmasterโ has a big standing; itโs a player awarded for outstanding achievements, and itโs the way I was perceived for the majority of my life (outside chess).
I really liked playing womenโs closed tournamentsโwhat will happen to them if we decide on removing the womenโs titles?
When the criterion should be only the current strength (you could, of course, make it more sophisticated and add years of experience, etc.)โwould we consider ‘lifelong’ titles like theyโre currently set up at all?
โSuch big changes should be well thought out,โ she concluded.
