Hyderabad: In light of International Master (IM) Divya Deshmukh's recent allegations of being subjected to "sexist behaviour from spectators" at the Tata Steel Masters in the Netherlands, Polish GM Susan Polgar has reacted on the issue revealing that she faced 'misogyny throughout her career'.
Polgar took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter and stated that she consciously tried to look as plain and unattractive as possible during her playing days to avoid being "sexualised". The Polish chess player also added that she did not even touch makeup untill her 20s.
“When I was a young chess player, I did not even touch makeup until I was in my 20s. There were two main reasons: I was tired of being sexually harassed/assaulted and hit on constantly by male chess players. And we were so poor that I had no money for fancy clothes. Sexism and discrimination in chess still exist today, just not as much," Polgar said on Tuesday.
“I wanted to prove myself on the board. I could not care less what people think about how I looked. I was not there to 'pick up' men. I was very thankful that my parents (especially my mother) were always with me at tournaments to try to protect me. It is better today but still bad at times,” she added.
Polgar has been vocal about being "sexually assaulted" by people in the chess fraternity in the past and her recent post after IM Divya Deshmukh's allegations has brought the issue to the fore yet again.
Polgar has some monumental achievements in the sport of chess and the biggest of them was becoming the first woman in history to become a Grandmaster. Apart from being a five-time Chess Olympiad champion, she was the first person to earn a triple chess crown and become a World Champion in blitz, rapid and classical forms of game in 1996.
The 54-year-old kept contributing to the sport even after drawing curtains on playing career. She became the first female coach to lead a men's Division I team to a national title. She also started the Susan Polgar Foundation to award scholarships and schedule a tournament for girls.
IM Divya recently featured in the Tata Steel Masters and finished 12th in the challengers section with a score of 4.5. After the conclusion of the tournament, she called out the "sexist behaviour" of the spectators.
"I have been wanting to address this for a while but was waiting for my tournament to be over. I got told and also myself noticed how women in chess are often just taken for granted by spectators," Deshmukh said.
"(The) most recent example of this on a personal level would be in this tournament. I played a few games which I felt were quite good and I was proud of them. I got told by people how the audience was not even bothered with the game but instead focused on every single possible thing in the world: my clothes, hair, accent and every other irrelevant thing," she wrote in an Instagram post.
Read More
