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‘Groped by a GM, threatened with rape & death': Chess’s #Metoo moment is making a noise
In a sport where participation figures of women are significantly lower than men, predatory behavior has long been an open secret.
Sabrina Chevannes was 13 when an English Grandmaster groped her a** at a prize-giving ceremony. She once woke up in a hotel room to find a “world-renowned GM” sliding his hands on her breasts and down her pants. Mathilde Choisy received professions of love from a male chess player she had never met before, soon after she won the Under-20 French chess championships in 2008. He sent her messages by the dozen and created fake email addresses impersonating other French players to get her phone number. It was followed by rape threats, and later death threats.
These are accounts narrated by female chess players – Mathilde is a Fide Master from France and Sabrina, a Woman International Master who has earlier featured in England’s Olympiad team.
Mathilde was among the 14 female French chess players who wrote an open letter titled ‘We, women chess players’ earlier this month on having experienced “sexist or sexual violence perpetrated by chess players, coaches, arbiters or managers.” It called on female chess players everywhere to “denounce the violence” they have suffered. “We are convinced that harassment and assaults are still one of the main reasons why women and young girls, especially in their teens, stop playing chess,” it read. Fide responded with a statement expressing support.
The letter has over 100 signatories now, including GM Susan Polgar, and International Masters Jovanka Houska, and Jennifer Shahade. Support has been trickling in, says Yosha Iglesias, one of the 14 players who drafted the open letter. “Many female chess players and parents of young players who’ve been sexually harassed, from France and other countries, have reached out. We’ve even had women offering professional services. Like someone saying, ‘Hey, I’m a designer and can help you set up a website.’ We still don’t know what shape this movement will take, but there’s a sense of sisterhood – of women wanting to fight this together – that gives me hope.”
Yosha, who came out as a woman last year, too received frequent death threats from Mathilde’s harasser – “You’re registered in the next Paris Open, I’ll be there to stab you in Round 1,” a message read, she says. The trauma for Mathilde and Yosha lasted nine years. Since the harasser was not a French national, it was a complicated path to justice. It took “nine years of living with thousands of emails, messages, calls, and threats,” before the harasser was convicted, says Mathilde. Recently, after years of silence, Yosha received a message on her YouTube channel from the same harasser. She’s at the French Championships now and fears for what lies ahead.
In a sport where participation figures of women are significantly lower than men, predatory behavior has long been an open secret. Violence, Yosha offers, usually stems from prejudice. “Many men in chess, even if they don’t say it out loud, believe women aren’t just good enough. So much of sexual abuse is about power and control.” Mathilde brings it home with a disturbing truth: “I don’t know too many women in chess who don’t have a story to tell. We kind of get used to it.”
In February this year, two-time US women’s champion Jennifer sparked chess’s #Metoo moment when she accused renowned GM, coach, and commentator Alejandro Ramirez of sexually assaulting her twice. Following her allegations, 10 other women reached out to her saying Ramirez had made unwanted sexual advances against them too. Worse, it happened while some of them were still minors. He was forced to resign from the St Louis Chess Club and banned by US Chess. Open-source chess server Lichess recently posted a lengthy blog about multiple women alleging sexual misconduct by another American GM, Timur Gareyev.
Citing serious concerns about US Chess and SLCC’s accountability in handling these cases, Lichess announced that it will no longer cover events hosted by either. While Chess.com has paused cooperation with SLCC. The club conducts major tournaments such as the Sinquefield Cup and Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz.
Soon after Jennifer went public with her story, chess streamer Alexandra Botez started building an anonymous database to help female chess players harassed by the same perpetrator connect and consider further action. Six survivors reached out to her within the first couple of weeks, but then it went quiet. “Sadly, I haven’t heard from any others,” she says, “nor have there been repeat names yet. I’m still keeping an eye out.”
Speaking out against sexual harassment can be hard enough, what often follows – victim-blaming, intimidation, and even threats of libel can be crushing. Sabrina is grappling with all of it right now. Over the past week, she’s been sharing her experiences episodically on X, each more horrifying than the previous. She says she’s thrown up after reliving instances of abuse, surrounded herself with a couple of close friends for help and a few days ago received a letter from a law firm representing a client, claiming defamation and demanding she take down two of her public posts. To be clear, Sabrina hasn’t named any of the accused in her posts.
For chess to become a safe space for women, it has to start with decision-makers improving policy. Mathilde is disappointed with the lack of a coherent plan so far. She suggests players sanctioned by national federations for sexual violence should automatically be sanctioned by Fide, a committee be set up exclusively for the prevention and sanction of sexual violence composed of specialized people, and referents, preferably female players whom victims can turn to directly be appointed, apart from checking trainers, and arbiters for sexual violence records.
“People in power should stop assuming they know what is best for women in chess. That’s sexism in itself,” says Mathilde who was previously technical director of the French Federation, “Consult women in the community, listen to what they think and want. The reason we fail to have more women in chess is because we don’t want to hear the reasons.”
