Exactly.
And how fulfilling is a life of partying, just as an example. Is that "having a life?"
As a kid maybe. But that's not much of a life from my perspective. I'd rather be going to chess tournaments and improving myself lol :)
But lets be more realistic and say the highlight of a person's day (or week or whatever) is going out with friends or family and having a nice meal and socializing. That's great. It's just not going to be the thing I look forward to all day or week.
oh boy this is a long winded old post
if you ask me- (and nobody will)- womens titles and tournaments is about money, the ability for top rated women to be professional, when they rating is too low to actually compete in the strong open tourneys.
its an economic reality not an insult; and many women have used it to stay at the top of their game.
Exactly.
i beleive the polagr girls prove that women are as good as men , they simply are not as many women players as there are men therefore less gm s.
That's not much of a proof. You can only count one of the Polgar sisters - Judit - the others, while strong women players, aren't in Judit's league. The existence of one woman player who has been in the top ten for part of her playing career suggests that it is possible that there could be others if they had Judit's gifts and application; but that's not proof until these other women actually prove that they exist.
It's strange how no-one thinks it odd that there should be women-only competitions for martial arts, athletics, football, tennis, and a hundred other sports, and yet believe apparently on ideological grounds that women and men must be equal in ability when it comes to chess.
It's strange how no-one thinks it odd that there should be women-only competitions for martial arts, athletics, football, tennis, and a hundred other sports, and yet believe apparently on ideological grounds that women and men must be equal in ability when it comes to chess.
But FIDE half-asses it.
If women are inferior, fine, then they shoudln't be eligible for men's titles or men's tournaments.
But there's no such thing as men's titles and men's tournaments 
Judging from the examples of Polgar and Yifan, women are just as good at chess. I somehow have the impression that top women players are less likely to draw just upon reaching the minimum number of moves to do it legally. I may have missed something but players like N. Pogonina never go away without a fight. And they're beautiful as well. :)
No its not an insult. First time i see that thread and didn't read the comments but the last one by social panda... Alexandra Kosteniuk or Jennifer Sahade or both or whatever anyway, they say they like to have women only tournaments.
Spacial reasoning... but chess strength isn't how well you can visualize and it's often not how well you can reason. It's more about how many patterns you're familiar with.
Well, all of the above, perhaps. Although I'm really bad at visualizing 3d objects, good thing chess is 2d! I think you can get good at any of it with practice, but it takes a certain kind of person to want to and enjoy practicing at it in the first place. Other types of people will spend time practicing something else.
Personality is an interesting idea.
Although not enough to explain 100 to 1 (or more?) ratio I think!
There are 1474 male GMs and 33 female GMs.
So, the ratio is 45 (44.666) to 1.
right, and its all where you are at, socially.
for example- if you're in high school, you're math teacher might think this is a much better way to spend free time than to illegal drink and party....
on the other hand; with a guy who has a business career- he's peers might think its a terrible waste of time. "Golf" is the better hobby, as its such an accepted way that business guys recreate/smooze/'network'
... chess is CHESS nonetheless. I think it has its good points and if it fits with LIFE generally- it doesn't matter if others think its a good (or poor) use of your free time.
you will either have your own personal compelling reason to play/study it- or , at some defeat; you will have that Chess.com classic "goodbye cruel world- where you accuse most of your opponents of cheating"