Advertisement

Men Just Better At Some Things, Says Chess Champ

British chess grandmaster Nigel Short has defended his comments after claiming women were inferior at the game because of their brain wiring.

Nigel Short told Sky News that men had 10% larger brains than women and "more grey matter", and pointed to chess league tables, where women barely featured.

The former British champion's comments have prompted a furious reaction from women in the game, with one saying he was "endorsing sexism".

Speaking to Sky News from Pattaya, Thailand, Short said: "It's quite easy to demonstrate there's a fairly substantial gap between men and women at chess.

"I think that probably sexism is an issue in chess. However, it's a fact that men and women are hardwired differently.

"Men have 10% larger brains. They have more grey matter - women have more white matter.

"Women have better verbal skills, women have all sorts of skills that are better than men. But the gap (in chess) is quite large and I believe that's down to sex differences.

"I'm not sure what these differences are; some say it's aggressiveness, some say that men are more obsessive. But whatever the reason, the sex differences exist."

Sky's Sarah-Jane Mee asked Short whether women's number one Judit Polgar had brought her "man's brain" with her when she beat him recently.

Short said the loss "against one individual woman does not prove anything on the gender point".

His comments echo those of his rival Garry Kasparov, who once said: "Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters."

Polgar - the world's best female player for 26 years - was clearly unimpressed by the Briton's comments.

She told the Daily Telegraph: "Men and women are different but there are different ways of thinking and fighting still achieving the same results."

Short sparked anger when he told the New In Chess magazine: "Why should (men and women) function in the same way?

"I don't have the slightest problem in acknowledging that my wife possesses a much higher degree of emotional intelligence than I do.

"Likewise, she doesn't feel embarrassed in asking me to manoeuvre the car out of our narrow garage.

"One is not better than the other, we just have different skills. It would be wonderful to see more girls playing chess, and at a higher level, but rather than fretting about inequality, perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact."

Meanwhile, Amanda Ross, who runs the Casual Chess club in London, said it was "incredibly damaging when someone so respected basically endorses sexism".