ATHENS, GREECE — Top female chess players are threatening to boycott the 2017 World Championships after the World Chess Federation (FIDE) announced that the event would be held in Iran, which has in turn stated that women would be required to wear hijabs.
The FIDE said that competitors would face arrest if they did not comply at the upcoming event slated for February 2017 in Tehran, Iran. The organization urged players to respect “cultural differences.”
Following the announcement, 47-year-old Susan Polgar — a former child chess prodigy, Olympic and World champion, and chess coach — took to Twitter to bring attention to a blog post she had written, which advocated complying to cultural differences. In many ways, the post urged the wearing of hijabs.
The tweet caught the attention of Nazi Paikidze, 22, the holder of two FIDE titles, International Master and Woman Grandmaster. Paikidze responded, “With all due respect, by wearing a hijab we’d be supporting women’s oppression,” and cited an article from The Independent titled, “Iranian woman call on Western tourists to violate hijab to fight against oppression.”
Paikidze has made other statements via Twitter. In response to a tweet about the announcement by Nigel Short — another chess Grandmaster and commentator, who also disagrees with FIDE’s decision — Paikidze expressed her regret for having to miss her first Women's World Championship, “for many reasons,” she wrote attaching an image of a U.S. Passport and International Travel warning about Iran.
On her own Facebook and Instagram pages, she explained, “I think it’s unacceptable to host a WOMEN’S World Championship in a place where women do not have basic fundamental rights and are treated as second-class citizens.
“For those saying that I don’t know anything about Iran: I have received the most support and gratitude from the people of Iran, who are facing this situation every day.”
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, hijabs have been mandatory for women in Iran. The strict law is enforced by the country’s “morality police.” Any woman found not wearing one in public faces arrest, a fine or public admonishment.
