Why are (the best) women so good at chess?
Participation rates and gender differences in intellectual domains
26 Jan 2009
The Virtual Medical Centre, Australia
The lack of women at the top level of intellectually demanding activities like science and chess is often attributed to their inferior cognitive abilities.
We show in chess that although the best men are better than the best women, the difference is little more than would be expected given the much greater number of men who play.
The simple but often overlooked statistical fact is that the best performers in a large group are likely to be better than the best performers in a smaller one. This may explain why women are underrepresented at the top of other activities where far fewer of them compete.
(Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: January 2009)
Good point about difference of group sizes. Another couple I’ve heard are:
1) That women and men have differently developed areas of their brains, such as those that deal with spatial awareness (which has been linked to positional play), which is more developed in men, and the part of the brain that deals with specific details (such as tactics) is more developed in women. The Polgars, or so I have been told, use a different part of the brain altogether…
2) That women aren’t as obsessive as men.
Or perhaps men are nerdier than women. Even ugly women get laid. Ugly men are lonely and only have their chess pieces to play with.
Many ugly men turn to pedophilia and buggery then ultimatly to chess.
And this is why most men are good at chess.
The End.
The real question is: why women don’t take interest in chess/sports/science/politics etc? You don’t measure intelligence with chess. IQ tests are better for that and women often do well in these. But how will you measure women’s lack of interest in anything except their own looks?
yet another example of a painful struggle with the facts
Geez, how often can this be trotted out as a new subject? Once a week? Can’t we just agree once and for all, that we’re better than those chauvinists out there who think women can’t play chess, and let it go at that.
Anon 1:44,
It is the grinding noise of dissention that keeps this subject alive. As long as there are dysfunctional obsessive compulsive personalities involved in this discussion, then the gender debate takes on a life of its own!
It is a wonderful sight to see crazy people beat each other up on the Internet. I liken it to watching people being hit by trains or surfers being eaten by sharks live on TV. Just don’t blink or might miss the action!
Marvelous show by Gingerbread Man and Mother Goose! Bravo!
The argumentation is well taken, but does not explain why the best bridge players are man in spite of the fact the most of the bridge players are women.
Onesypectis factor apart from social pressure could be atavism from the need to be a fighter and a hunter in primitive times.