19 July, 2014

The Voice of a Chess Girl

She started playing chess at around the tender age of seven
Looking her father play, with his friend or her brother
Picking up the words like pawns, knights, check and mate
Faster than her alphabets.

Girls her age were playing with dolls, crayons & teddy bears
Her friends were calling her to play hopscotch and tag-and-run
She hears them but she is too busy with another game
The game of chess.

She picks up her first moves and shows interest for this game
The day came when she beat her father and also his friend
The same day she was taken to the chess class for lessons
By her parents.

She seemed to learn Chess faster than anything she had ever learnt
Castling, en passant and everything new felt so much fun
It is time for her to participate in tournaments, her parents felt
She’s talented, everybody said.

As she entered the bigger field, she won and she lost & she learnt her lessons
Slowly and steadily she started winning trophies and medals
When asked, what are you going to be when you grow up?
Chessplayer, she answered.

She grew up balancing both her studies and her chess career
She dreamt of being a Grandmaster that was clear
She worked hard, she made sacrifices because she wanted her dreams
To come true.

Her ambitions were real and her efforts were true
But for the reasons we are unaware, slowly her presence in the
Chess world started to fade away, just like other girls
Who had played Chess.

What about her dreams and where did she go?
She wasn’t seen playing in tournaments and someone told me
That she had stopped playing Chess, slowly first and then
All at once.

Why did she & other girls give up Chess, give up their dreams?
The reasons might be many, but now she’s only part of the statistics
Of all the girls who ever played chess. And her true voice
Remains unheard.







One of the subjects which I strongly feel about is Women’s Chess. The question that bothers me whenever I play in Open tournaments is "Why is the women players participation very less compared to men?"Generally in open tournaments, the number of participants is in three digits, but the number of female players can be counted on fingers. Why there is such a huge difference in the ratio?

We can see that there are a lot of girls who start playing chess, but eventually they drop out. The reasons might be many, for example educational priorities, finance, pressure or even lack of opportunities. Chess, like many other sports is still a male dominated field and the pressure on the girl to prove herself is huge. Then to travel and compete in tournaments, she needs the support from her family. Also because she is a girl, she has to accept a short career. It is true that some girls give up on Chess not because they want to, but because of lack of any other choice.

Sometimes only thing that every chess girl needs is encouragement. From all of us. And someone to tell her to follow her dreams. So that one day she will be able to raise her voice, to tell us her story of Success.





2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. do not worry time will come when the FEMALES will be equal to MALES and will be their in equal numbers in all departments of life not only games or for that matter CHESS....

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