I just asked Mike Nolan for the statistic about female chess players within the USCF. Here are the numbers:
12 and below, 5491 of 29,791 or 18.4%
13-15, 1121 of 9031 or 12.4%
16-19, 629 of 6771 or 9.3%
20-24, 129 of 2208 or 5.8%
25-64, 1085 of 28,932 or 3.8%
65+, 23 of 2172 or 1.1%
Overall: 8592 of 84,572 or 10.2%
Thanks Mike!
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
We need more girls playing chess!
Susan, I am disappointed there are not more women super GM’s
Is it biological or societal or both?
Or is it that women are just as capable but just don’t play chess.
The are more males at the extremes of the IQ scale, more nuts, geeks and Einstiens.
Men are more aggressive, start more fights, more wars but only a women can be a mother.
I would love to see more women play chess. Poker use to be male dominated but as poker has become socially accepted we now see more women & and they can play.
Then maybe chess is a bad thing where we teach confrontation, kill or be killed, instead of how to work together. Maybe Men are the real losers. If so.. how sad, for it is really a beautiful sport.
I think ratings get in the way of playing chess as an art. Play to win game and tourneys and not points and you will enjoy the game for the game.
Robert in Alaska
What are we to infer from these statistics? Clearly, chess appeals less to the female of the species.
Maybe they are in the main less warlike and more socially-oriented – but didn’t we know that?
maybe if the chessplaying guys were not such nerds more girls would play