. One mother of a player in Mexico wrote on Twitter that they believe this is due to Spanish-speaking circles being unaware of the US allegations, and said the matter was now 'viral' in their WhatsApp groups. As yet, no criminal charges towards Ramirez have been announced. Having kicked down the door to reporting sexual abuse in chess, Shahade thinks 'the movement is incomplete, because in reality, it's a huge cost, financially and time-wise, to people who speak out about specific abusers… a lot of people just don't have the resources to come forward'. There is also the re-traumatising element of going public, she adds, forcing those who have undergone often unspeakable things to relive them over again. Nevertheless, Shahade's bravery has led others to do the same: against Ramirez, 10 individuals have now contacted her and Ellen Carlsen – sister of Norwegian grandmaster and five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen – has reported an incident of harassment that occurred when she was a minor. When she went public in March, Carlsen said she 'should have done [it] a long time ago,' but at the Norwegian Chess Federation (NCF) too, 'a culture of harassment and exclusion' for women abounds, the Norwegian){kind=link}
Thanks to the actions of female stars like Jennifer Shahade, a dark side to the male-dominated-mind sport can no longer be hidden
Sexism, sexual violence, harassment, assault: an open letter has cast a grim light on the world of women in chess – the “royal game” that has in recent months been mired in a growing web of allegations. “We have remained silent for too long,” its 14 French signatories wrote last week, adding that they were “convinced” that dire treatment towards women was to blame for the game remaining 85 per cent male.
“Staying silent means carrying the burden of shame alone,” it reads, urging “all female players to denounce the violence they have suffered. So that fear and guilt change sides. So that the perpetrators can no longer act with impunity.”
The letter has since received more than 100 signatures from prominent female players, including Jennifer Shahade, the two-time US women’s chess champion and author of Chess Queens. It’s a necessary tool to “spread awareness of the scope of the problem without putting pressure on individual women,” she says. “Not everybody wants to come forward by indicating that they have been mistreated or assaulted in the world and the game that they love, [so] it really gives an idea of how big this problem is.”
Shahade knows the personal toll of speaking out. In February 2023, she accused US grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of having sexually assaulted her twice, nine and 10 years ago – events she made public after hearing other reports of his misconduct, along with “a series of alleged incidents against a minor,” and seeing text messages in which he described an underage girl he was coaching as a “temptress.”