At my very first chess tournament, as I looked across the board, my mind overlooked the tactical opportunities, my candidate moves and the lines I had just calculated. Instead, it froze with the image of my opponent and his friends laughing at me, in the middle of the professional environment fostered by a rated tournament.
I have carried that moment with me for years, wishing I had spoken up.
Now, as a rising high school senior, I have finally found my voice. Statistics show that only 11% of chess players are females, and at higher levels of competitive play that number exponentially diminishes to a mere 2 percent. My goal as a female chess player is to fight the chess gender gap by inspiring the rising generation of players to acknowledge each other as intellectual equals across the board, united through their passion for chess.
Contemporary solutions for gender disparity in chess include establishing specific master titles only for women and hosting all-girls chess tournaments. Ironically, the root of the problem remains firmly planted in these solutions: the promotion of separation in chess.
Creating separate master titles with lower standards or hosting tournaments only for women and girls further embeds the seed of doubt regarding chess ability rather than representation.
Therefore, during my junior year, I developed my own passion project revolving around accessible chess education to foster community and intellectual equality. I hosted a large event, open to the public, to teach any child the basics of chess in seven simple stations, free of charge.
In three hours, I had reached more than 40 students, more than 50% of whom were girls. My success inspired me to teach free, bi-weekly community chess lessons, through which I have had the fortune of teaching more than 25 new students.
During the summer, I partnered with the Morgan Hill Library to host a week-long chess camp culminating in a friendly chess tournament. While I was teaching, I consistently highlighted our goal to learn together, and I saw the students’ differences melt away as they helped each other with new concepts.
In the game of chess, which is so divided—between black and white; or winners and losers; or by rating groups—I sought to bring unconditional unity. I was proud to see my students treat each other with respect, regardless of gender or results of their games.
Through my project, I have reached more than 80 students, more than 40% of whom are girls, much higher than the national average. However, the statistics have never been my focus.
To me, my work is a testament to the fact that further division is not the solution to preexisting division; rather, the answer lies in education, community and respect.
Inclusivity will never be about separating people, but ensuring every person in the room feels valued, respected and equal, regardless of gender, age and ethnicity.
For the past three years, I have been working in the frontlines of our community’s chess education, and I have never felt more confident in rising players’ ability to treat each other with the respect, kindness and intellectual equality every single person deserves.
Sharanya Chudgar is a rising high school senior at Valley Christian High School. She has been an established local chess teacher for three years, organizing free community lessons at the Morgan Hill Library. She hopes to help dismantle the chess gender gap by inspiring young players to treat each other as intellectual equals across the board, united through their passion for chess.
