Ladies' Month

For this month's edition of The Sociology of Chess (November 2016), the video short list reduced to two choices:-

• A brief history of chess - Alex Gendler • Cartoon style, >500K views, >1.2K comments
• I tried to master Chess in 30 Days • Youtube channel Goal Guys, 125K views, >1.2K comments

I couldn't decide which clip I liked better, so I looked for a third choice and found one on the channel WHYY. What is WHYY?

WHYY is the leading public media organization in the Philadelphia Region, including Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and beyond.

The video had not so many views and no comments, but popularity is not necessarily the most important consideration to develop the future of chess.

Chess Mates: Growing a Community of Girls who Play Chess (4:23) • '[Published on] Oct 11, 2019'

The description started,

Groups like the U.S. Chess Federation are trying to get more girls to not only play the game, but also stick with it. While some progress has been made, females remain significantly outnumbered. Women make up just 14 percent of all chess players. Now two-time U.S. Women's Chess Champion Jennifer Shahade is teaming up with Philadelphia nonprofit ASAP to close the gender gap locally and ultimately nationwide.

Maybe some day one of the girls in the video will grow up to be like this young lady, whose own heroine is Judit Polgar:-

• Scones, Dating and Battle Chess | AMA with Anna [Rudolf] • 'Ask Me Anything'

For another angle on the subject, see a previous post in this same sociology series: Drawing the Gender Line (March 2019).