'Proud Of People's Trust In Me!': Jennifer Shahade Opens Up On Hypocrisy, Misogyny And Abuse In Chess!

Last Updated:March 06, 2026, 14:37 IST

Shahade, who was at the forefront of the allegations levelled against Alejandro Ramirez, spoke about unflattering facets of the game such as rampant sexism in the fraternity.

Jennifer Shahade, the former US Women’s Champion, who has moved on to writing and professional poker, has gone through her fair share of toil before becoming what she eventually went on to become, and she opened up about the rampant sexual abuse and imposter syndrome women chess players are subject to in the sport.

Shahade, who was at the forefront of the allegations against Alejandro Ramirez, a Costa Rican GM, who tutored at the St Louis University Chess team, spoke about the hypocrisy and the misogynistic facets of the game.

“Currently there are multiple investigations [into] Alejandro Ramirez and sexual misconduct, including a series of alleged incidents involving a minor. I was assaulted by him twice, nine and 10 years ago. I’d moved on until the past couple of years when multiple women, independent of each other, and with no knowledge of my own experience, approached me with their own stories of alleged abuse. These accounts were from much younger alleged victims."

“If you count the women who talked to me about other men the number is much, much higher. Some men reached out to me as well."

“By different chess players, coaches and grandmasters. I was not only proud of what I did, but also proud that people had so much trust in me."

“It’s upsetting to see how there’s still lots of abuse against women. But I’m tremendously proud of bringing this to light in chess. It’s my biggest achievement because, as in so many other cultures, there’s a long and embedded history of abuse."

As many as eight different women had alleged Ramirez of abuse, which eventually led to the player stepping down as the coach of the side and the US team.

“Superimposing today’s mores on erroneous recitals of acts of yesteryear is a recipe for disaster for both the accused and the accuser … in this era of introspection and sensitivity to all matters ‘Me Too’ related, Mr Ramirez remains very supportive of those who seek to raise issues of concern about anyone," Ramirez’s lawyers said.

“Mr Ramirez continues to be fully supportive of investigations any time allegations of misconduct are made by anyone anywhere."

Shahade, however, penned down an extract that sounds painfully true when she said, “A lot of people want to move on without Alejandro in chess, but without me too. I am compelled to fight for accountability, not just for me, but for anyone who is afraid to report because they worry that, even if proven correct, the endgame won’t be vindication. It will be becoming collateral damage."

Formative Years, Encouragement and Algorithms

Shahade also reflected on her formative years in the sport and how her brother and father used to boos her up despite being better at the sport themselves.

“I got opportunities and was celebrated by people who wanted to see more women in the game."

“But there’re definitely negatives as well. My brother and my dad were much stronger at chess than me but they were very supportive because they saw I had a different learning curve and different interests. But from the outside there was a sense that ‘Oh, she’s female so she’s not as intelligent.’"

Shahade also touched upon the domination of male players in the sport and the abusive and misogynistic behavior prevalent in the sport and recalled the time she hitched a bus ride to go to New York and win the US Junior Championships in the open category in 1998.

 “I always wanted to win a mixed gender US Junior Open title because I was already successful on the women’s circuit," she said.

“I took a Greyhound bus for six hours to get to the tournament in upstate New York. I won and became the first female US junior champion," Shahade added.

“People were pretty excited. When you do well you often get celebrated as a woman. It’s more when you do poorly that people are like: ‘Oh, she’s just a woman.’"

Shahade also opened up on the ratio of men and women’s chess players being a result of the encouragement offered up to them growing up and reflected on the algorithms that dictate what a user consumes in the tech-first world now.

“That might be right. Definitely girls are less encouraged than boys to get into chess by schools, society and internet algorithms. I’m starting to make chess videos with my son. As a vocal feminist with a very mixed crowd of followers, I thought that when these videos reach the algorithmic space the breakdown of men to women seeing them would be something like 85 to 15. But the reality is that between 95% and 99% of the videos are shown to men.

“It’s crazy. Algorithms are profiling each user and saying: ‘What are the percentage chances this person will be interested in a chess video?’ This is a very pernicious effect of social media in deciding for you what you’re interested in. It’s very sobering and concerning because the rise of algorithmic social media coincided with ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. The algo is just deciding your interests."

Shahade expressed her concern about the Donald Trump administration which has been at the centre of multiple controversies since the billionaire came into power.

“It was a horrible day when he got elected again. It’s really hard to stomach," she said.

It’s given me a tremendous sense of purpose and clarity. The truth elixir is so important. The scariest thing about Trump is that, in this post-truth world, he can confuse people and make so many lies that you don’t know which one to attack first. It’s very destabilising and the attack on journalism is really concerning.

“But the fight for truth is so important. There’s a famous quote that lies and hypocrisy don’t last on the chess board because if you lie you are going to lose. And losing to your opponent will prove your lies," Shahade concluded.

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