Chess wrongly perceived as a ‘brilliance’ game, leaving girls out: NYU study

Fewer girls play chess competitively because their own parents and coaches hold biases about skills such as “brilliance” that they connect to male players, according to a new study out of New York University.

The researchers said their study, published last month in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, provides “the first large-scale evidence of bias against youth female players” and holds “implications” for the roles parents and mentors play in women entering other male-dominated fields, such as science and technology.

“These beliefs are more likely to be harmful both to girls who already play chess and to those who could want to: Would you be interested in participating in a sport where your potential is downgraded by your parents and by your coaches before you have even started?” the researchers wrote.