25% of Australians play chess

I would like to thank our friends from Australia for sending me this story.

Pawn to be wild
By Craig Skehan
January 6, 2007

One of the competitors at the national chess titles in Canberra is a bespectacled sociologist, Dr Mary Wilkie, who is approaching 70, wears her grey hair in a bun and has 12 grandchildren.
“My favourite opening is the granny gambit,” she says. “It’s my appearance that lulls them into a false sense of security.”

Her eyebrows arch when she is asked about the argument that women don’t excel at chess because their brains are different from men’s. “Well, Borat says that,” Wilkie quips of the movie caricature of a misogynist Kazakhstani reporter.

Worn cliches portray chess as a domain for nerds and antisocial Boris Karloff look-alikes with outdated suits and poor dental hygiene. However, as older players slow down or die, chess is increasingly becoming a mainstream pursuit for the young. With an explosion in schools competitions, chess is becoming very fashionable.

Of the 50,000 Australians who play in officially organised competitions, the overwhelming majority is under 18. Only about 5000 competitors are adults, but it has been estimated that up to 25 percent of Australians – about 5 million people – at least know the basics of the game.

The full story is here.