Chess’s Gender Bias: Parents & Mentors Shortchange Girls’ Potential

The miniseries The Queen’s Gambit depicted the life of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who consistently faced being underestimated in male-dominated competitions. Now, a team of New York University psychology researchers has uncovered some real-world evidence of the challenges Harmon faced as a young player: parents and coaches of youth chess players tend to rate the highest potential of girls lower than that of boys.

The study, which included co-author Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess champion, also revealed that coaches who believe “brilliance” is essential for success in chess are more likely to assume their female mentees will quit due to lack of ability compared to their male mentees. Yet, despite these biases, both coaches and parents don’t perceive that girls face a less supportive environment than boys, nor do they believe girls are more likely to quit due to external factors.

"While it’s inspiring to see a fictional woman triumph in a male-dominated space, women in the real world remain significantly underrepresented in chess,” says Sophie Arnold, NYU doctoral student and lead author of the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. “This research highlights a contributing factor: bias from parents and coaches against the female youth players in their own lives.”