International Women’s Day 2022
The UN has designated the 8th of March 2022 as International Women’s Day. The theme of this celebration will focus on:
“Women in leadership. Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world”.
Some startling facts accompany this
- Women aged under 30 consist of less than 1% of parliamentarians worldwide.
- Only 22 countries in the world have a woman either as Head of State or Government.
- At the current rate of progress, it will be another 130 years before there is gender equality in representation at the government level.
- Across the health sector – the very people on the Covid frontline- men on average earn 11% more than their woman counterparts.
In chess, there has long been a disparity between what the top women players earn and what the top men players earn. You need to do the research but the contrast between the wealth and pay of the men’s World Champion Magnus Carlsen and his woman counterpart Ju Wenjun is stark.
Women in chess from the great Vera Menchik to Hou Yifan have had an enormous impact on chess and its history. Look at the names of these great world champions
- Elisaveta Bykova – Twice a world champion.
- Nona Gaprindashvili – World champion for sixteen years
- Maia Chiburdanidxe – World Champion for thirteen years
- Xie Jun – Twice a world champion
- Susan Polgar – the eldest of the amazing Polgar sisters
- Hou Yifan – The second highest-rated women’s player of all time, the youngest woman’s GM of all time and a three-time world chess champion.
Other greats include Pia Cramling, Humpy Koneru and Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Finally, the greatest woman’s chess player of all-time Judit Polgar. She was ranked top 10 in the world and has beaten both Kasparov and Carlsen when they were number #1 in the world. She beat Bobby Fischer as well. She also has a plus score against Nigel Short. A truly amazing chess player.
In other words, women have made a huge contribution towards chess since the arrival of Vera Menchik.
Hence, it is right that Hammer acknowledge this and to celebrate Women’s International Day we are delighted that IM Harriet Hunt has agreed to give us a chess lecture on the 7th of March 2022 at the Mind Sports Centre from 7.30 pm. The theme will be “Women in Chess”.
IM Harriet Hunt
Harriet is a five-time British Women’s Chess Champion – her personal chess odyssey is packed with huge achievements and notable victories – often against her male counterparts. Her highest Elo rating was 2463 – today despite playing less frequently she is still rated at 2400
Today, she is a lecturer, Dr Harriet Hunt, at University College Cork, in Plant Science. I will have to ask if she has visited our friends at Cork Chess Club.
So, Hammers I ask you all to attend on the 7th of March for a fascinating talk and insight into “Women in Chess”
John
Aka Lord Clueless