In the United Kingdom, the only all-female chess team earned promotion to Division One of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). The team ‘She Plays to Win Lionesses A’ was required to recruit a male player to the roster.

One of the 4NCL rules requires that each Division One team to have at least one player of each gender. Team ‘Lionesses A’ must withdraw one of its eight female players to free up a slot for a male player.

The players claim this will destroy the team atmosphere and discourage women from participating in chess. Player Emily Maton stated that the team deserved the promotion based on its own results and should not be forced to include a male player.

Emily Maton

Emily Maton

English chess player

“There’s no shortage of male players in the division.

The whole point of the team is to bring female representation when there isn’t really any at all, and they introduced this rule because there weren’t enough female players.

It’s going against the entirety of the rule and it undermines what we’re trying to do as a team.”

The team ‘She Plays to Win Lionesses A’ is an elite all-female team from the UK founded by IM Lorin D’Costa in 2020. The team was organized as part of the non-profit charitable organization ‘She Plays to Win’. The team features Eline Roebers, Bodhana Sivanandan, Alisha Vyas, and others.

Credit: The Guardian