Book Review: Chess Queens by Jennifer Shahade
Chess Queens “is the true story of the women and girls who broke down barriers to become chess champions.”
BY ZARA SHAH
THE SPENCE SCHOOL
Her League COACH & Her News COLUMNIST
Chess Queens: The True Story of a Chess Champion and the Greatest Female Players of All Time by Jennifer Shahade “is the true story of the women and girls who broke down barriers to become chess champions” (p.1). Shahade, a Woman Grand Master (WGM) and a two-time United States Women’s Champion, is an accomplished chess player; she is also a poker pro, speaker and author. Along with Chess Queens, Shahade is the author of two other books: Chess Bitch and Play Like a Girl. Chess Bitch is a precursor to Chess Queens. While Shahade wrote Chess Bitch “about things in the chess world that were unfair” (p.3), Chess Queens was written to honor “the growing number of female champions all over the world” (p.3). She has traveled the world playing in tournaments, meeting players and mentors. Because of these various chess experiences, Shahade offers unique insight and personal stories in Chess Queens intertwined with some history of the game of chess, the history of women in chess, the life stories of influential women players and more.
While every chapter in this book provides valuable and interesting information, my favorite chapters were, “Playing Like a Girl” (chapter 1), “War-Torn Pioneers: Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf” (chapter 2) and “Women Only!” (chapter 6).
Shahade begins the book by dissecting what it means to play like a girl as opposed to play like a man. She points out the differences in referring to females as girls but males as men, as it implies that women play like weak, young children while men play as smarter, older, and more mature adults. Shahade writes, “Men and girls are on opposite ends of a continuum of strength and power” (p.8). The phrases, “play like a girl” and “play like a man” describe the different playing styles of chess players. Shahade describes specific moments in her own tournament games when she has thought about these phrases, including a time where she played overly aggressive to the point where she says she was playing poorly. I enjoyed reading this chapter because it provided many perspectives on a topic that many people already have strong opinions on. These many perspectives ranged from Shahade herself to Garry Kasparov, a Russian grandmaster, to Reuben Fine, an American chess player from the 20th century. Shahade, Kasparov and Fine each had their own theory as to why women are perceived as worse players than men at chess. Shahade, for example, explained the low demographic of women participation in chess which responds to the commonly-used statistic that fewer women than men are ranked among the top chess players.
The chapter titled, “War-Torn Pioneers: Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf” narrates the stories of Vera Menchik and Sonja Graf through extremely difficult times in history. Vera Menchik was born in Moscow in 1906. She “came from a comfortable family” (p.32) living in an apartment with 6 rooms. Their lifestyle, however, changed with the 1917 Russian Revolution where they were forced to share their apartment with neighbors and eventually when they decided to emigrate. They reached Hastings, which had one of the most well-established chess clubs in England. She then grew as a chess player and became an extremely successful one, earning accomplishments such as winning the Women’s World Championship several years in a row. Sonja Graf, born in Germany in 1908, was Menchik’s “nearest female rival” (p.42). She came from a “traumatic childhood” (p.42). Graf was introduced to chess from a young age and she started by playing casually with her brothers. She gained more chess experience by sneaking away into chess cafés and grew a love for the game there. She turned this love into a career at the age of 17 when she became the female champion of Munich. Both of these women were trying to navigate tough situations while developing their careers. World War II was occuring at this time. This interfered with chess for women since the organization of the Women’s World Championship was stopped for a decade. Additionally, Menchik and Graf were personally effected by the Nazi Regime. Regarding this chapter specifically, I appreciate all the details included to humanize these significant women. Shahade integrates her own input into the story at times, which helps the reader understand the period in history more. Additionally, readers learn about these women from several angles. We read about their family life, their introduction to chess, their successes and their challenges in their respective chess careers but also the challenges in their lives escaping the Nazis.
“Women Only!” is a direct yet uplifting title to represent a chapter discussing the social aspects of playing chess as a woman. I really enjoyed reading this chapter because it was relatable straight from the beginning. The first sentence of the chapter is “Chess tournaments are social occasions for kids, especially when they get to stay in hotels” (p.141). Shahade goes on to describe tournament culture among young kids as fun and exciting until one of these kids is “one of the only girls” (p.141). Being one of the only girls causes the girl to be left out of the fun, making their experience far less enjoyable but also less educational. Shahade then discusses all-girl tournaments, specifically the first ever All-Girls Nationals in 2004, which she attended as a coach. The moments she described from this tournament were all positive and ones that I, myself, have experienced and know that many other girls have as well. The chapter discusses the history of the first-ever international women’s tournament, controversy regarding women only tournaments, Shahade’s own opinions on and experiences with these tournaments, and rivalry between women.
Overall, these three chapters varied in the content they discussed and explored, whether they dive into the hidden meanings of a specific yet commonly-used phrase, narrate the lives of iconic women players or illustrate the life of young women chess players today. These chapters, however, all focused on the general topic of women in chess as did the entire book. In other words, as Shahade says in the introduction, “Chess Queens honors the growing number of female champions all over the world” (p.3). Other parts of the book included talk about influential women players today such as the Polgar sisters as well as infuriating comments made by men on women’s chess abilities and intelligence. Shahade leads most chapters with an anecdote from her own life. These stories are easy to follow and engaging, and they allow the reader to feel a more personal connection with Shahade. Shahade does a nice job of keeping the book informative and fascinating.
Again, this book consists of many different types of information from history to personal anecdotes to factual statistics. For this reason and others, I would recommend this book to anyone. I believe anyone from chess players to those who have never even picked up a chess piece would learn something from and find something they enjoy in this book. Shahade encourages the book to be open for non chess players by including a glossary filled with chess terms, making the book easier to understand. I also think this book is interesting for women and non-women alike; women may find it more relatable, inspiring, or comforting while others may find it more eye opening and valuable to read about a different perspective.
I loved reading Chess Queens: The True Story of a Chess Champion and the Greatest Female Players of All Time by Jennifer Shahade. I can’t wait to read her previous books and see what she does in the future.
