Chicks rule
Boys are better chess players than girls

If the first thing someone decides is "most top players are men, this must mean they are simply intellectually superior", they are certainly a misogynist.
I am sure, if a women tried as hard as she could, and studied every day, she could become as good as Bobby Fischer himself. It's not that women are bad at chess, it's just men get more opportunities.

Many people claim that the fact is related with participation numbers. However, that is not true. Today, hundreds of girls participate in local, national and international chess competitions with much lower average scores and rating performances.
Let me tell you the simple truth: chess is a game of war; it is something like boxing over the board. It is purely about winning or losing.
Boys’ psychology is ready for a game including a war, or a fight; either physically or psychologically. Proving superiority by fighting over opponents is something rather masculine. Boys can fight, lose and try again harder to win. They are always ready for that.
On the other hand, girls’ psychology is not suitable for that kind of challenge. (What I mean is surely in general terms. There are some rare tough girls whose psychology can beat hundreds of boys in such a challenge; but they are really rare.) Girls psychology can not take such challenges of “win” or “lose” easily. They mostly get offended by that, resulting in an unwillingness to participate in such games. They kind of feel existential fear in such “win or lose” situations. However, they are superior to boys in setup, construction or drama games, as well as many other types of activities.
Just like boys’ being better at chess doesn’t prove a gender superiority, girls’ being better at many other types of games or activities doesn’t prove a gender superiority, either.
Boys, please stop boosting your egos for something natural. And girls, please stop trying to prove artificial feminist mottos.
Each gender has its own advantages and disadvantages in specific areas. Chess is an area where boys are much superior.

uh i don't feel like i'm in a psychological battle when i play chess. i don't think about my opponent much at all. i just want to make good moves that i can be proud of :>
uh i don't feel like i'm in a psychological battle when i play chess. i don't think about my opponent much at all. i just want to make good moves that i can be proud of :>
Exactly, that is what he means.
You think you do, but you actually don't. Girls have strengths elsewhere. You can be good at chess, but men excel at it.

You improve by focusing on yourself and your own weaknesses. If I play well and lose then I'm happier than if I play bad and win. Gukesh said something similar.

men are much more embarrassed at losing, so they study like lunatics to avoid losing at all costs, they have a massive fear of looking stupid, it’s great being a cat because looking stupid comes with the territory.

Bobby Fischer once said women are "are terrible chess players." He also stated women can't cook well, nice statement by Fischer all the top chefs are men. And to top it all off even in 2025 there's not a female chess player that could outmatch Fischer. Men are better at building houses, it's an extreme rare site to see a women in the building trade, or more male electricians, or more males in at solving general puzzles. Men don't need women, I don't need a women and I'm in my 30's. If I did get a girlfriend I'd be out of money. Also I wouldn't be allowed to go to the chess club without her thinking I'm in another women's bed.

i suppose since there's more women lawyers than male lawyers, men are worse at debating.
therefore i win this argument
People have already researched this topic many times before using actual sciency stuff. Some example links:
A normal-english analysis from 2023
A more hardcore-sciency paper from 2008
Both conclude that if you look at the numbers, the gender gap in chess skills can almost entirely be explained by participation rates. The 2023 paper even calculates that in 92% of the countries in the world, the gender gap can be explained in its entirity by the fact that more males play chess than female.
TLDR: If group A has 100 chess players, and group B has 1000 chess players, odds are that the top 3 chess players will all be in group B. That's the reason for the gender gap in chess, according to the data.
can and does are two different things. the pattern of top level chess follows the pattern of IQ distribution, namely that the closer you get to the top 0.01% percentile, the faster women drop off the picture entirely. This follows the well accepted theory that men are the gender with more outliers on both ends of the distribution curve.
look at the top 100 players at any given moment. women make up about 11% of tournament players in FIDE, and 13% in the USCF, yet the top 100 players usually have 0-3 women on the list at any given moment. Representation alone does not account for this. Also the fact that there has only been one female player to crack the 2700 barrier is telling.
And this pattern repeats over and over in many fields not just chess despite other said fields actually have positive pressure to hire for diversity purposes.
Participation rates do not explain the whole story. They are far more female players know than in the past yet none come close to what judith polgar achieved.
I have argued in post #80 that it does related to "Participation" rates, but not in terms of numbers of players, but in terms of obsession and dedication to studying it. I have always heard the top men saying that they studied 8+ hours per day, while I have never heard a woman say that she has studied more than 6 hours per day... participation rate by obsession... sure it makes a difference.