Chess: The Difference Between the Genders

This article was originally written by Rebecka Ratcliffe

If you were to look at the FIDE ratings list for the top 100 players in chess today, you might be surprised to find that not one of them is a woman. The top woman in the world, GM Yifan Hou, is just off the leaderboard at #115 in active players with a Standard FIDE rating of 2620 (November 2025).

This difference in achievement in chess has been a topic of interest to social scientists for a long time, as chess ratings are a relatively objective measurement. In 2025, Chessable sponsored a new study, “Across the Board: Sex, Ratings, and Retention in Competitive Chess” by Angela Li, Mark Glickman, and Christopher Chabris to delve further into the disparity.

Spoiler: The findings were not that girls and women aren’t good at chess.

Are men and women inherently different when it comes to chess?  Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

What Does Evidence Say?

There have been several theories applied to the disparity in chess advancement between women and men. The reality is clearly that women progress to elite levels in chess less often than men. In fact, the proportion is incredibly skewed, with only 2% of FIDE grandmasters being women in 2025. The separate title Woman Grandmaster (WGM) has about 300 holders worldwide, but the WGM requirements are slightly less difficult. What could be behind this?

The Conventional Wisdom Is Simple—Too Simple

The ability distribution hypothesis theorizes that the building blocks of ability are distributed unevenly, creating an inherent difference in raw ability. This has been a pervasive theory in science, business, engineering, mathematics, and yes, chess, for quite some time.

Empiric evidence tells a more nuanced story. In “Males and Females Have the Same Distribution of IQ Scores” by R.T. Warne, it’s conceded that males have a more variable distribution of IQ scores on both the top and bottom of the scale, but the mean IQ is relatively equal. The ranges also overlap across the spectrum—meaning that while there may be more men in high and low areas, both sexes are represented at every data point on the curve.

What may be of interest in this research are the areas where this intelligence is concentrated:

“While males and females are equal in average intelligence, the distribution of their abilities differs in other ways…Females tend to score higher (on average) on verbal abilities, while males have higher average performance on spatial ability and mathematical reasoning. Across these abilities, though, the differences average out to produce equal means on overall IQ.” (Warne, 2020)

On social media, I received several comments along the line of “men have higher IQs.” That oversimplification does the chess-playing population two disservices. One, it suggests there is an innate, immutable difference that means male players will always be superior, possibly discouraging talented girls and women. Two, it’s a lazy conclusion. If women are never going to excel at the same levels, why invest the time and effort to increase the pipeline of girls and women entering the sport? There are women at every point on the IQ continuum, so something else must be keeping highly intelligent women from pursuing chess.

It's the Numbers, Chat

Two additional theories are the participation rate hypothesis and the differential dropout theory. These are related to the number of girls and women who choose to participate in chess and how long they stick with it. It’s no surprise that the data shows a serious numbers advantage for boys taking up chess. They often enter competition at a higher level as well, suggesting more practice and preparation before their first tournament. Girls will show up at chess club as rank novices, eager to learn but basically starting from scratch. Boys typically have some experience.

Girls who enjoy chess in elementary school leave the sport in high numbers in middle and high school. Photo by Tahir Xəlfə for Pexels

For the girls who do start playing, they drop out at much higher rates. Over 9 years, a group of roughly 32,000 players was tracked, and the percentage of girls fell from 18% to 11% (Li, Glickman, & Chabris, 2025). Do girls drop out because they can’t succeed against the boys? Ratings suggest there’s no innate disadvantage. When girls and boys are placed in matched cohorts, their progression is relatively equal. Additionally, dropout rates decline significantly. This is strong evidence that the reason girls leave chess is more environment and interest-based and not due to innate ability differences.

The Exit Precedes the Expertise

In the study “Gender Differences: The Chess Delusion,” Chassy noted that the mean age of active female chess players was much younger—around 20 years for women vs. 31 for men. The age range for most players (not prodigies, of course) to reach peak expertise is between 30 and 40 years old. This suggests that men have been playing chess for more than a decade longer than women, many of them much longer, and are more likely to reach grandmaster level.

When the data is examined using both gender and age as covariables, an interesting fact comes to light. Mean ratings are virtually identical when women and men reach their peak, around 1770 (Chassy 2023). Why, if this is the case, does it seem obvious that men are “better” at chess than women? The most compelling explanation is a rapid drop in participation rate. Women quit playing chess before they reach their peak performance, often in adolescence and well before they would hit those higher ELO levels. There is evidence that men are more likely to focus intently on one activity, while women generally have a broader range of interests (Warne, 2020).

Another interesting finding from Chassy is the equalization of ELO ratings between men and women in their 30s. For an entire decade, the ratings are virtually the same despite the large disparity in participation rates. This is another reason to question the ability distribution hypothesis. If the difference in chess achievement was really due to inherent ability gaps, there should not be any age group with parity.

Where Does That Leave Us?

If girls and women have the same potential for great play as boys and men, we’re missing out on some fantastic female chess players because they aren’t encouraged to start chess or stick with it. Next, we ask — what barriers exist for women in chess?

Bias Can Be Subtle

In the study “Checking gender bias: Parents and mentors perceive less chess potential in girls,” by Arnold, Bailey, Ma, Shahade, & Cimpian, the authors considered whether parents and mentors exhibited bias against the female players in their lives. While it doesn’t necessarily take the form of overt bias, they did find that parents and mentors were less likely to take a girl’s ambitions seriously due to the perception the girls and women do not have equal potential. They were more likely to associate a girl dropping out with lack of ability rather than due to other factors (Arnold et al, 2024). Fully 90% of mentors and parents thought female youth players ratings ceilings were a full bracket lower than a male player of the same age, despite stating that they thought ability was similar.

Hostile Playing Environment

The world of organized chess has been rocked in recent years by revelations of sexual harassment and assault at events. Accusations by WGM Jennifer Shahade and others have created a “Me Too” movement in chess. As women share their experiences, a disturbing picture of what it’s like to be a girl or woman in chess has emerged. It’s hard to play your best and climb the rankings if you’re distracted and uncomfortable due to harassment and unwanted attention.

Women should be able to focus on playing chess when they attend events without harassment. Photo by Picas Joe for Pexels

New initiatives are in place to make chess safer and more welcoming for everyone. The USCF has adopted SafePlay standards, the same guidelines used in youth sports to protect athletes from harassment and abuse. FIDE has committed to changing how it handles accusations, and several high-level players have been censured or even banned for their behavior.

It’s up to every chess player to help support a safe playing environment for everyone. It’s also up to parents and mentors to acknowledge the barriers that exist and work to create a more inclusive and supportive experience for girls and young women. Start early! What looks like teasing in the elementary or middle school chess room may feel quite different to the person being “teased.”

Unequal Time, Opportunities, and Resources

Three GM norms are required to achieve grandmaster status. A GM norm requires a performance rating of 2600, based on the average rating of opponents. Because there are so few women playing at this level, it can be harder for women to chase those all-important norms.

Another fact that bears pointing out is that the age where peak expertise is typically reached (late 20s to early 30s) is also the range where women are typically making decisions about having children and careers. Participation rates reflect a shift in priorities away from chess during those years. Competitive chess, like any sport, requires training and resources, time and money, and it’s not surprising that it takes a backseat for many women.

The Potential IS There — So What Can Be Done?

If the gender differences we see in chess are primarily down to the enormous imbalance in male/female players, the obvious first answer is to do everything possible to stuff the pipeline with girls. Perhaps that’s a little too obvious, though. While encouraging and attracting more girls to the game is a great start, building an environment where they feel safe and supported is equally important. Providing the same support, encouragement, and resources to all young chess players is essential to developing promising girls and women into elite players.