New Delhi, January 30, 2024: Indian chess star Divya Deshmukh has called out rampant sexism in the sport in a social media post after concluding the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
Competing in the Challengers section of the iconic event, the International Master, who has a standard rating of 2420, finished 12th with a score of 4.5 our of 13 while competing in a field that had players like Hans Niemann and Harika Dronavalli.
But after the event ended she spoke of her dismay at the way women in the sport are treated by fans.
“I have been wanting to address this for a while but was waiting for my tournament to be over. I got told and also myself noticed how women in chess are often just taken for granted by spectators. Most recent example of this on a personal level would be in this tournament, I played a few games which I felt were quite good and I was proud of them,” the 18-year-old wrote in a social media post on Sunday.
Divya Deshmukh takes on Hans Niemann at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament’s Challenger event at Wijk aan Zee. (PHOTO: © Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024)“I got told by people how the audience was not even bothered with the game but instead focused on every single possible thing in the world: my clothes, hair, accent and every other irrelevant thing. I was quite upset to hear this and I think is the sad truth that people when women play chess they often overlook how good they actually are, the games they play and their strength.
“I was quite disappointed to see how everything was discussed about in my interviews (by the audience) except my games, very few people paid attention to it and it is quite a sad thing according to the reports published in indianexpress.com.
“I felt it was unfair in a way because if I go to any guy’s interview there would be way less judgement on a personal level, actual compliments about the game and the player.
