Still not sure where I come down on this argument, but I can tell you where I am now. When I think of chess, I think the original intention to teach general warfare and strategy. I have yet to see an argument that women are better at it then men, so I’ll tenuously (sp) hold that assumption.
No idea what the percentage is when it comes to intelligence and chess regarding gender, but I have yet to see Kasparov or Fisher beaten by a woman. But what piqued my interest was the fact that in a large group, there would be a higher percentage of men in the bottom tiers.
Is it reasonable to say that if you have 5 women that enter a chess contest, that there may be upwards of 25% of the men entering only because it is a competition and hoping to get lucky? In other words, they just have to compete and that would skew the stats?
Well yes, but you seem to be assuming that this is due to a natural predisposition against chess and similar pastimes. While it may certainly be the case that girls are not actively discouraged from playing chess, they may very well be passively discouraged from playing it due to a general perception that it’s a “boys’ game”, in much the same way as I perceive Bridge to be a women’s game. Societal factors aren’t as simple as outright discrimination, and I believe it’s fair to say that we’re not yet at the point where such factors have disappeared so far as to be negligible.
It’s hard to know where to start on this topic. So many sex, genetics, chess and statistical myths are being tossed about. So, I’ll just add this: attraction to any activity will depend greatly on social forces (e.g., no great Olympic skiers coming out of Cuba). Women around the world are denied education and social approval for many skills that are related to chess (which is not 100% math!). Even if only a small amount of anti-chess pressure is applied to girls you’ve reduced a large number from trying or trying hard. (Chess champions start as young children; world chess champions and challengers have almost always been young.) Women have been closing many gaps in performances, no doubt as more enter chess there will be more represented at the top. The difference in variances in men and women’s IQs is an interesting theory that I hadn’t heard. I’ll ask around on that one.
