Women Playing Chess

well I would argue that chess is a war game, but I wouldn't go as far as immediately using that to claim this is why men must be better at the game.

On a sidenote .. Kasparov would have no doubt made a fine commando :)

Chess is abstract, but I think the assumption that it was intended as a simulation of (pre) medieval warfare is quite a reasonable one. Killing or mating seems to me a matter of semantics. 

Chess may be a war game in the sense that it's modeled after warfare, but this doesn't automatically give soldiers an advantage, does it?  I think it's easy to understand that the game is generally won by the individual with a better understanding of the game and the ability to better channel their intelligence and concentration at the time the game is played.

Accordingly, it really doesn't bother me who beats me, male, female, child, adult, black, white or green.  Now, what would really get to me is if there was a woman who I couldn't beat in an armwrestle.  That's not a story I'd tell anyone.

Philidor...anyone rated under 2200 simply doesn't have the appropriate amount of male testosterone.  lol.

Memory or logic or pattern recognition, visualization...are all clearly attributable to a very competitive drive.  Not. 

There are even meek GMs if you'd believe. 

although sometimes "funny," jokes about girls are not tollerated at chess.com.

it's hella fun to see Afaf get all worked up though.  i bet if the OP had a handsome pic of himself for his avatar, Afaf would have made an exception.

flags, did you adopt a sidekick?

Anyway, you're both wrong.  I upset a good looking poster just a couple weeks back, as flags very well knows.

I had some flats in Jersey, an' I rented one of 'em to these three carpenters - all young lads in their early 20s - they invited me an' my Tina ( both late 20's ) to their flat-warming : well, plenty of alcohol later, the youngsters started arm-wrestlin', asked me if I wanted to have a go : I laughed an' said if they could beat Tina (very slim, 8 stone / 110 lbs dripping wet ) then I'd have a go - I had already taught her the techniques - she beat all three of 'em one after the other, which ddn surprise me at all; I'd seen the size of the horse she used to win gymkhanas with Three very embarrassed carpenters

well if you say we're wrong, WE MUST BE!

and yes you did upset me a couple weeks back.  but i forgave you.

I agree chess is a logical simulation of pre medieval warfare, but it's absolutely not hunting or killing practice, or doesn't require such a drive. It doesn't involve killing. Maybe DOOM II does, but chess doesn't. It only involves logical relations, it's not much different than math or logic or learning a language even, the only difference is that there's the element of competition. 

How about go then. There's no simulation factor in go, there are no kings, no bishops, no knights. Is go a hunting practice? Does that require killer instinct? It should be more obvious for go than chess that it doesn't, and yet there's absolutely no difference for the way an individual tries to win a game of chess and go. 

and I HOPE there's a subtle line that separates killing and mating for male players which would make it more than just a matter of semantics.

reading people's attempts to justify either side of this argument is part boring, part entertaining--entertaining in a train wreck kind of way. 

do people seriously think there is any way to convince either side?

too bad you can't post soundbites of yourselves yelling what you believe.  the louder the voice--the more right you must be.

 The goal of your post goes beyond my understanding,and i m not only referring to this one in particular.That challenging and yet "funny wannabe" way of posting is more proper from a teenager than from a grown up

dude i have no idea what you're talking about.

i think it's pretty stupid that people try to convince biggots that they're being evil and that biggots try to convince the rest of us that they're not.

not sure what your post is referring to Smartattack.

if you don't find me funny, i'm totally ok with that.

Nice profile picture ilikeflags! Beware Afaf though :)

But then you seem to assume that go and chess are the same except that go is a clearer illustration of your point.

I would say go and chess are not the same game, and that chess is the more agressive one. Of course it is easy to argue go is more similar to chess than chess is to spearing a bizon - but that doesn't mean chess is not a war game, it just isn't war.

Afaf, you said there are meek GM's and I believe you are right. But for one, I don't think the meek GM has a meek approach to chess while he sits down to an OTB game. And secondly I think you are overstating what I'm saying to make it easier to attack. 

I'm not saying you have to be a killer to play chess, I'm saying it helps. Kasparov was extremely competitive and had great killer instinct. I don't see how that not helped him stay on top for so many years. In fact the difference between him and the other super GM's has at times been attributed to these qualities especially.

And stats, I don't think I'm a biggot nor would I be defending biggotism. But I think there's a difference between being equal and being the same - and I like the differences between men and women.

Taking great efforts to immediately extinguish any and every outlet of purported sexism are (in my view) missing the point. Yeah, (many) men would think its slightly worse to lose to a girl, and more so in physical than in mental sports. But why is that so very bad and biggot?

As long as you don't seriously think its really much worse I think it isn't as bad as it is made out to be. It may be slightly childish, but then if we'd only occupy ourselves with being grown up and mature all the time we miss out on the good parts of being a kid now and then.

?

It's probably not true, is it? Still I would find it rather funny 

i did have the english flag up for a while on account of playing for team england.  other than that i've only ever had the USA.  maybe i should think about a switch.  french maybe?

Australia?

I know this is pedantic, but don't anybody on this site know how to spell 'bigot' ?

haha  i used 2 "g"s  oops

lol. I initially got it right, but then I was too lazy to check after you used two "g"s - and with you being the american I just copied the error thinking I was correcting mine :)