SURVEY: WOMEN S CHESS THROUGHOUT EUROPE · Lose female chess players at the age of sixteen. Survey:...

Survey: Women’s Chess Throughout Europe

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ECU Women’s and Education Commission

SURVEY: WOMEN’S CHESS

THROUGHOUT EUROPE

Alice O’Gorman: Ireland


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INTRODUCTION

• Aims of the Survey

o Gather data on women’s chess in every federation in the European

Chess Union

o Gain an understanding on projects to improve women’s chess in place

in every federation in the European Chess Union

o Identify which projects are successful and what aspects of women’s

chess they improve.

• Method

o Two surveys were sent out to officials in every federation of the

European Chess Union.

o The first survey asks questions on policies in place by each federation.

o The second survey focused on gathering data regarding how many

women are playing in each federation.

o The surveys were sent out via email

o They were sent in the form of a word document, google doc and an

online survey.

• Limitations

o Only 42 out of 54 federations responded, this leads to missing data and

volunteer bias.

o Not all data provided may have been accurate. Everything in this

booklet is based off the answers received.

o Lack of willingness to answer follow up questions.


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OVERVIEW: PERCENTAGE OF

PLAYERS WHO ARE FEMALE

• Below is a map showing what percent of players registered to each federation across

Europe are female. Countries in grey either provided no data or unsuitable data.


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• Below is a graph showing what percent of players registered to each federation across

Europe are female.

• The average (mean) percentage of players that are female is 11% (rounded to the

nearest number)

• It varied a lot per country, with the range being 24%.

• Countries have been grouped together for analysis based on the percentage of players

registered to their federation who are female.

• Group A: 0-5 % - The Faroe Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Finland.

• Group B: 6-7% - Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway.

• Group C: 8% - The Netherlands, Slovakia, Israel, North Macedonia, Malta

• Group D: 9-10% - Czechia, Serbia, Belgium, Germany, Hungary

• Group E: 11-13% - Croatia, Cyprus, Albania, San Marino, Andorra

• Group F: 17-19% - Moldova, Russia, Slovenia, Portugal

• Group G: 21-26% - Georgia, Greece, Romania, Poland, France.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage of players who are female in European federations


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GROUP A

• This group contains countries where under five percent of all players registered to

their federation are female.

• These countries are: The Faroe Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Finland. Below is

a map highlighting these countries.

.

• More details on each federation on the next page.


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• Denmark

▪ Provides most support for elite juniors and international players.

▪ Have a women’s national championship: 24 players played in it.

▪ Female only junior national championships started in 2019. It was held at

different times to open junior national championships.

▪ No women are on the board.

▪ No female arbiters.

▪ Very few female coaches.

▪ High level of girls playing chess in school, however no figures for this.

• Sweden

▪ Support is given to female players of all levels.

▪ Very high level of female players in Chess in Schools, 44% of under 14s

playing are female.

▪ No female national championships.

▪ 1 out of 9 board members are female.

▪ Provide free female only chess training.

• The Faroe Islands

▪ Very few women in competitive chess.

▪ Just under half of participants in chess in schools are female.

▪ One of five board members is female.

• Estonia

▪ Differ from the rest of the countries in this group as they have more strong

women.

▪ Provide opportunities for elite women every month for little to no cost.

▪ Have no women on the board.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, however it clashes with the Open

National Championship.

• Iceland

▪ Have no funding especially for women’s chess.

▪ Tried to have a women’s championship – not enough players.

▪ One woman on the board.

• Finland

▪ No information was provided on the policies in place for women’s chess.


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GROUP B

• This group contains countries where between 6-7 percent of all players registered to

their federation are female.

• These countries are Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway. Below is a map

highlighting these countries.

• More details on each federation on the next page.


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• Austria

▪ Provide support to top female juniors.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championships and Girls’ National

Championships.

▪ These events clash with the open versions of them.

▪ Low levels of arbiters and coaches that are female.


• Norway

▪ Provide support for women’s chess for all standards.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship and Girl’s National Championships.

▪ These events take place at different times to the open versions of them.

▪ 2 women are on the board.

• Ireland

▪ There are five women in the top 100.

▪ Activity decreases sharply with age.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship which is on at a different time to the

Open National Championship.

▪ Have girls’ prizes in junior national championship.

▪ One of thirteen board members are female.

• Switzerland

▪ No data provided on policies in place.


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GROUP C

• This group contains countries where 8 percent of all players registered to their

federation are female.

• These countries are The Netherlands, Slovakia, Israel, North Macedonia and Malta.

Below is a map highlighting these countries.

• More details on these federations are on the next page.


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• The Netherlands

▪ Provide support mainly for top female juniors

▪ Funding also goes toward the Olympiad

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship.

▪ This event clashes with the Open National Championship.

▪ Two out of six board members are female.

▪ Percentage of women playing dramatically drops with age.

▪ Find there is an issue with parents not encouraging girls to play as they do with

boys.

• Slovakia

▪ Funding is focusing on junior chess.

▪ One woman is on the board.

▪ Female participation drops rapidly with age.

▪ Particularly struggle with women dropping out between 18-20.

▪ Have a Female National Championship and Girls’ National Championships.

▪ These events clash with the open version of their events.

• Israel

▪ Provide support mainly for elite female chess players.

▪ Have three women on the board.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship and Girl’s National Championships.

▪ These events clash with the open version of them.

▪ Mandatory to have a woman on every team in the league.

• North Macedonia

▪ No funding especially for women in chess.

▪ There is a decline of female participation with age.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship which is on a different time for the


▪ Have Girls’ National Championships which run alongside the Junior National

Championships.

▪ One woman is on the board.

• Malta

▪ School Chess has a higher rate of girl’s playing chess.


▪ This event is on at the same time as the Open National Championship.

▪ No coaching of special prizes for girls.

▪ Zero women on the board.


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GROUP D

• This group contains countries where 9-10 percent of all players registered to their


• These countries are Czechia, Serbia, Belgium, Germany and Hungary. Below is a map


• There are more details on these federations on the next page.


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• Czechia

▪ Provide support mainly to elite women.

▪ Zero woman on the board.


▪ This event is on at a different time to the Open National Championship.

▪ Very dramatic drop of activity among women with increasing age.

• Serbia

▪ One third of arbiters are female – have free seminars for woman.

▪ Loss of activity among women with increasing age.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship and Girls’ National Championships.


▪ Two women in the top 100.

• Belgium


▪ Must have a girl playing in every school league.

▪ No Women’s National Championship.

▪ Girls’ National Championships at the same time as the open version of these

events.

• Germany

▪ Provide support mainly for elite players

▪ Provide coaching exclusively for women.


▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, which is held at the same time as

the Open National Championship.

▪ Have Girls’ National Championships, on at different times to the open version

of these events.

• Hungary


▪ Girls and Boys play separately at junior level.

▪ Top women and girls receive free training.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championships, on at the same time as the Open


▪ Lose female chess players at the age of sixteen.


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GROUP E



• These countries are Croatia, Cyprus, Albania, San Marino and Andorra. Below is a

map highlighting these countries.



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• Croatia

▪ Zero women in the top 100.

▪ Dramatic drop of activity of women with age.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, on at a different time to the open


▪ Have Girl’s National Championships, these are on at the same time as the open

version of these events.


▪ Struggle with keeping girls playing chess over 16.

• Cyprus

▪ 3 women in the top 100.

▪ Successful project started in 2019, female only under tens competition, which

increased female participation in this age group.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, on at different dates to the open


▪ Prizes for best girl in Junior National Championships.


• Albania


▪ Chess in schools has level of girls playing.

▪ Funding for women’s chess is focused on juniors.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, on a different time to the Open

National Championships.

▪ Have Girls’ National Championships, at the same time as the open version of

these events.

• San Marino and Andorra

▪ Both these countries had similar responses.

▪ Small number of players overall leads to distorted statistics on percentage

playing and especially the number in the top one hundred.

▪ Proportion of women playing is consistent at all age groups.


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GROUP F



• These countries are Moldova, Russia, Slovenia and Portugal. Below is a map




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• Moldova

▪ 12 women in the top 100.

▪ 1 woman on the board.

▪ Just under half of arbiters are female.

▪ Have a Women National Championship and Girl’s National Championships.

• Russia


▪ Funding is mainly spent on elite women’s chess.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship, on different dates to the Open


▪ Have Girls’ National Championships, on different dates to the Open Junior

National Championships.

• Slovenia


▪ Three women in the top 100.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship and Girls’ National Championships.


• Portugal

▪ Two women in the top 100.

▪ Struggle with women losing interest after big life changes such as university or

marriage.

▪ Have a Woman’s National Championship on at the same time as the Open


▪ Have separate prizes for girls in the Junior National Championships.

▪ Funding is mainly for international and elite women.


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GROUP G



• These countries are Georgia, Greece, Romania. Poland and France. Below is a map

highlighting these countries



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• Georgia

▪ Seven women in the top one hundred.

▪ Highest percentage of players that are female.

▪ Experience dramatic drop in female activity as age increases.

▪ Four women on the board.

▪ Have history of strong female chess players.

• Greece

▪ Five in the top one hundred.

▪ Funding is focused on elite chess players.


▪ Have a Women’s National Championship and Girls National Championships.


• Romania

▪ Funding focuses on international players.


▪ Four women in the top one hundred.

▪ Dramatic drop of activity in women as age increases.

▪ Hold a National Women’s Championship which is on at the same time as the


▪ Hold Girls’ National Championships at different times to Open Junior National

Championships.

• Poland


▪ Funding is for top female juniors and elite women.

▪ Struggle to get women to play past nineteen and twenty years old.

▪ Have a successful youth academy.

▪ Higher level of girls in chess in schools.

• France

▪ Four in the top one hundred.

▪ Funding for women’s chess mainly spent on juniors.

▪ & out of 24 of the board are women.

▪ Have a new five-year plan that they are implementing.

▪ Have a Women’s National Championship on the same dates as the Open



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SUMMARY

• Most countries had a Women’s National Championship.

• Most countries but not as many countries had Female only Junior National

Championships.

• Countries with chess programs in schools reported high levels of female

participation in these programs.

• Countries seemed to have very few women on their boards.

• Group A – all were geographically very close to each other.


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WOMEN IN THE TOP 100

• Below is a map showing how many women are in the top 100 of national ratings in

each federation.

• The average number of women in top 100 is three.

• On the next page there will be analysis of the countries who had the most women in

the top 100.


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• Moldova

▪ Moldova has twelve women in the top one hundred.

▪ They have no open national championship. Just one for women, one for men.

▪ Women must be invited or qualify by through other events. There are only ten

players who get to play.

▪ Funding mainly supports women who play chess internationally.

▪ Moldova reports the biggest issue holding women back in their federation is

lack of women’s tournaments.

• Malta

▪ Malta has eight women in the top one hundred players.

▪ Only 129 players registered overall.

• Estonia

▪ Estonia have seven women in the top one hundred.

▪ Have a project called team Estonia where three to four active female players

compete in title tournaments, training and accommodation is free.

▪ Funding is aimed active strong female chess players.

• Georgia

▪ Have seven women in the top one hundred.

▪ The Women’s National Championship caters to the strongest women.

▪ Ten women qualify to play it, based off other events.

▪ Georgia has a strong history and culture of women


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GIRLS’ CHESS: UNDER 14

Below is a map showing the percentage of players under 14 years old registered to each

federation who are female.

The average percentage among countries that answered was 20. However, this data isn’t

collected in many federations.


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GIRLS’ CHESS: 15-20

Below is a map showing the percentage of players between 15 and 20 years old registered

to each federation who are female.

The average percentage among countries that answered was 15. However similar to data

about to under 14s, it isn’t collected in all countries.


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WOMEN’S CHESS: 20-30

Below is a map showing the percentage of players between 20 and 30 years old registered

to each federation who are female.

The average percentage among countries that answered was 10. However, again this data

isn’t collected in all countries.


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WOMEN’S CHESS: OVER 30

Below is a map showing the percentage of players over 30 years old registered to each

federation who are female

The average percentage among countries that answered was 7. However, again this data

isn’t collected in all countries.


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• From the graph below and the maps above it is clear to see that the percentage of

girls who play chess decrease with age. This means that a greater proportion of girls

drop out in comparison to the proportion of boys who do.


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BOARDS MEMBERS

Below is a map showing the number of women in different federations across Europe.

Below is a graph showing how many federations have certain numbers of women on their

board.

We can see the majority of countries only have one woman on their board.


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Here is a graph showing the frequency of the number of women on the federations board.


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CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN’S CHESS

The survey posed the question: Could you please describe what you view as the biggest

challenge for women's chess in your federation.

This question was interpreted in three ways.

The first way: What are the reasons why less women play?

The second way: what is the goal for the federation in terms of women’s chess?

The second way: What is the top achievement for women in your federation?

The results from the first interpretation: Why do less women play?

• Changing attitudes among male players, so that female players are made more

welcome at chess clubs and tournaments, and making chess matches and

venues more female-friendly and at accessible times.

• Total male domination in competitions and that we don’t have female "idol"

or female trainers. We are in a process at the moment and we have a few ideas

but its too early to see any results or to make any conclusions. We do evaluate

every year though and try to improve.

• Maintaining focus on an ongoing basis to give priority to the initiatives agreed

as action points from the "More women/girls in chess" project.

• As I mentioned before, female players lose their interests in chess before

college or business life.

• Traditional few women playing. There are often few girls/women in one area

and sometimes only one in a tournament.

• How to convince young players (19-20 years old) to continue professional

chess carrier. Most of players starts study and has no time for hard training

and tournaments.

• Keeping junior playing through secondary school. Lack of funds and support

from the management board (not all members). Relies on volunteers to run the

management board.


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• Our old way of doing things and the lack of special care for girls and women

in the clubs.

• Women are not interested to play chess

• Chess is a time-consuming sport, when you want to play on high level. It is

difficult to combine with education, job and family. Men are more ready to

take chess seriously and to spend a lot of time with it. It is needed to bring

additional offers for women. Maybe focus more on rapid chess. It needs less

time and less concrete preparation to one single game.

• People's view that chess is for boys, especially parents

• The appeal for women to chess. Parents are less inclined perhaps to stimulate

girls compared to boys when it comes to chess. There are far more men than

women playing chess, which is not stimulating for women.

• Top women are usually much weaker than men. It's hard to find motivation

for hard training, when chess cannot be the lifetime job. Women chess has

almost no fans. Adult women usually don't have time for tournaments. As the

percentage of girls is higher than by women, I'd try to start the help there. Our

G12 team on ETCH was very happy having a female couch/teacher. Chess

passionate girls may give more efforts to chess with the prospect of a lifetime

job as a chess-girls-coach.

• Top female players want to be treated as male players (equality) parents see

chess as a male sport

• This is all about a global will of the board, the clubs and their presidents, the

coaches, we need to make people act on that subject and realize that the % of

women are not normal neither a fatality if we really want to change it

• Lack of role models, image of chess, lack of female contemporaries.

• Sexism


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Here are the results from the second interpretation : what is the federation’s goal for

women’s chess.

• Right now, we have a project to achieve the participation of a female team at the

next Olympiad

• that women continue to play chess and have a women national team with more

than 2000 Elo.

• An Olympic medal

• Participation

• To become more massive and stay in chess after 16 years old

• To increase the percentage of female players

• We will try to represent a strong women’s Olympic team.

• achieve placement within 10th place at the Chess Olympiad

• The biggest challenge is to increase the number of active female players in all

ages.

Here are the results from the third interpretation : The biggest challenge is to increase the

number of active female players in all ages.

• women fide grand prix séries, coupe de la parité

• National championship

• Women's World Team Championship

• Women can and have won the open championship.


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NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Approximately 82% of the countries that responded host a women’s national

championship.

• There are many different ways federations can organize national championships.

• They can be first divided into whether they are held at the same time as the open

national championship, held at a different time as the national championship or

integrated within the national championship.

• They can be further divided into the style of tournament, whether it is round robin

or not. Round robin tournaments tend to be when the tournament is aimed at the

elite players, while other formats are generally for tournaments that are more

accessible for all standards.

• Below is a map showing the frequency of the different types of tournaments.


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• Below is graph showing the frequency of each type of tournaments. The types of

tournaments are

o Type 1 - Non round robin held at different times to the open national

championship.

o Type 2 – Non round robin held at the same time to the open national

championship

o Type 3 – Round robin held at a different time to the open national

championship.

o Type 4 – Round robin held at the same time to the open national

championship.

o Type 5 – The open and women’s national championship are played in one

tournament,

o Type 6 – There is no women’s national championship.


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TYPE 1

• These are tournaments that aren’t round robins which are held at different times to

the open national championships.

• There are nine countries who run the women’s national championship this way,

they are

o Turkey

o Finland

o England

o Ireland

o Croatia

o Kosovo

o Albania

o North Macedonia

o Norway

• When the tournaments are set up as this, they tended to attract larger number of

participants. The average number of women playing was 25.

• When the tournaments run at different times women don’t have to choose which

section to play in. The average number of women playing in the open national

championship is 2 in this group.

• The average entry fee is ten euro, and prize fun is approximately 1700 euro.

• All of the tournaments that answered said any women of any rating could play.


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TYPE 2

• These are tournaments that aren’t round robins which are held at the same as the

open national championships.

• There are ten countries who run the women’s national championship this way,

they are

o Portugal

o Germany

o Austria

o Slovenia

o Romania

o Estonia

o Latvia

o Israel

o Slovenia

o Denmark

• This type of tournament on average attracts smaller numbers than when it is not

on at the same time as the open championship. The average number of entrants is

17.

• The average number of women playing the open section when tournaments are

run like this is under 1%.

• The average entry fee is approximately 36 euro and prize fun is approximately

1650 euro.

• The entry requirements varied upon different tournaments, but the answers were

either that any women could play, or a rating required, aside from one which was

invite only.


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TYPE 3

• These are tournaments that are round robins which are held at different times to

the open national championships.

• Only three countries run the women’s national championship this way, they are

o Russia

o Georgia

o Czechia

• As there are very few countries who run their women national championships like

this it makes averages inaccurate.

• All these events are either invite only or decided through qualifying events, so

have a limited number of spots to be given out. In these cases, it was either 10 or

12.

• All these tournaments are free to enter.

• Prize fund tended to be generous. Not all federations responded to this question,

but the two answers were 4,000 euro and 6,000 euro.

• Number of women playing in the open section again wasn’t answered by all

federations, but the answers given were 0 and 3.


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TYPE 4

• These are tournaments that are round robins and are held at the same time as the

open national championships.

• There are seven countries who run the women’s national championship this way,

they are

o France

o Netherlands

o Poland

o Hungary

o Serbia

o Greece

o Moldova

• There tended to be 10 women in the tournaments.

• Participants are either invited or qualify from other events.

• The average prize fund was higher in this group, being approximately 6700 euro.

• No women played in the open national championships in these federations.


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TYPE 5

• This is when the two tournaments are played in one section. There may have been

other federations with tournaments set ups such as this that were classified instead

in the two tournaments coinciding due to unclear response.

• The three countries who run their women’s national championship like this are

o Spain

o Iceland

o Wales

• Each of the countries run this type of event differently.

• The women’s national championship can be played like this because it’s the

preferred set up or due too few women to hold a separate tournament.

• There was a large range in number of women that played, from 1 to 19.

• There was a large range in price fund too, ranging from 3,000 euro to 50 euro.

• The entry fees were either free or small.


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JUNIOR INITIATIVES

Initiatives reported by federations for female juniors tended to either be training only for

girls or girl’s national championships.

Girl’s Training

Approximately a quarter of federations who responded had training specially for girls.

In these countries the average number of under 14 that play chess who are female is 25%.

Five percent higher than the average among all federations. However it is a small sample

size so it may not be accurate.

In these countries the average number of 15-20 year olds who are female is 18% which is

3% higher than the average over all. Again there is a small sample size here so it may not

be accurate.

There were many different structures to running these training programs. Some are

outlined below.

1. An informal training format, open to players of all standards.

2. System where players are chosen based off international ranking for their gender.

3. Summer female summer camps for young female teenagers.


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Girl’s National Championships

Below is a map showing how different countries set up there girl’s national

championship.


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Below is a graph showing the frequency of each of these set ups for the women’s national

championship.

Type 1 = National girls championships on at different time as open junior championships.

Type 2 = National girls championships on at the same time as junior open

championships.

Type 3 = Prize for top performance among girls in open junior championships.

Type 4 = No separate prize or tournament.


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FUNDING

Different federations allocate funds towards women chess in different ways. Below is a

map showing how countries categorised how where they allocated their funds.


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Below is a graph showing how countries choose to allocate their funds for women’s

chess.

The way federations allocated funds or if they did not have funds made little to no

difference on the average percentage of women playing chess / the number of women in

the top one hundred. This may be due to small sample size, fact that effects of funding

may be seen many years down the line or the ineffectiveness of the funding.

SURVEY: WOMEN S CHESS THROUGHOUT EUROPE · Lose female chess players at the age of sixteen. Survey:...

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Transcript of SURVEY: WOMEN S CHESS THROUGHOUT EUROPE · Lose female chess players at the age of sixteen. Survey:...