No, I haven't read Donner about that.

drkodos wrote on 12/17/08 at 17:01:04:



Lets be honest here.... most men that play chess are either already married or incapable of picking up a woman at a tournament anyways.

I ask myselfe, why are men not as good as men in quilting. Only Kenneth Johnson can quilt in the tops. Is it more the social factor - quilting is not a war game, and it seems to be untypical for men to quilt a blanket, so the parants don't them show quilting in such way as girls  - or it is more the genetic factor?

So it is well known, that women are better in fabrics and color coordination of sewing abilities, during men are no better in verbal abilities. But logical and spacial abilities are important in quilting.

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I always suspect the main reason men want more women to play chess is that they are not happy with the current menu selection of potential mates at their local tournaments.   

There is certainly no shortage of intellect among women, but women have different interests than men.

My best student ever is a 17-year-old girl who is and just a few points shy of FM (also just a few shy of US-NM).  That's a whole lot stronger than I was at 17.  Last Sunday she won the U.S. 11th Grade Championship (of either sex), finishing ahead of a 2250.  Fine, she is no GM, but she is a good player with excellent fighting qualities, and with yet some chance of making IM (or who knows, maybe even GM).  

I have little doubt that if enough women found reason to take up the game, and seriously, we would see plenty of them at the top level.  What I do see among the young people that I work with is that very few girls have the interest to do chess seriously.  I think this has to do with chess being such a direct confrontation between two people.  Few girls, it seems, are comfortable with that.  In fact, let us be frank, there are plenty of men interested in chess who find the game too stressful.

If you look at contract bridge, which is a partnership game that is quite demanding intellectually, you do see many women at the highest levels.

Or maybe the average rating of men and women is roughly the same, but far more men than women play the game and so are disproportionately represented at every level. There's only one woman in Fide's top 100, but I'd be surprised if there were many more than one in the bottom 100.

I ask myselfe, why are women not as good as men in chess. Only Judith Polgar can play in the tops. Is it more the social factor - chess is a war game, and it seems to be untypical for women to play a war game, so the parants don't them show chess in such way as boys - or it is more the genetic factor?

So it is well known, that men are better in logical and spacially abilities, during women are better in verbal abilities. But logical and spacial abilities are important in chess.

Scientifics has found out that women think more in net works, during men thinks more focused. Because of their focusing thinking, they can concentrate themselves in a better way.

Men also have got the hormon Testosteron, which increases their aggressivity. This can strenghten their fighting spirit in the game. 

How do you think about that theme?