British chess grandmaster Nigel Short has form when it comes to provocative statements. When competing in a tournament in France as a junior player, some years ago, he was asked the question by an interviewer: ‘What do you hate most in life?’ His answer — ‘The French’ — failed to endear him to the organisers. At a later appearance in a French tournament, an entente cordiale was struck, and Nigel is once again a welcome guest across the Channel.
Nigel’s latest foray into contentious self-expression came with his widely reported intervention into the age-old debate about the differences between the male and female brain. As was widely reported, Nigel said that the female brain fails in the logic department; hence girls will never be able to match boys at the chessboard.
A few years ago, the Ukip backer Stuart Wheeler denigrated women’s ability to play chess, only to be challenged to a game by former British girls chess champion, Rachel Reeves MP. Wheeler tried to get out of it by asking a grandmaster (me, in fact) to take his place. This seemed to be missing the point of the exercise, so I declined. The game between Reeves and Wheeler never took place.
In a recent tweet Nigel stuck to his guns, saying: ‘I have no problem expressing unpopular views if they are true.’ I spoke to Tony Buzan, inventor of the Mind Map thinking and creativity technique. Although there are differences in grey and white matter in the male and female brain, Tony told me that, scientifically, the male and female brain show no serious differences. I will return to this theme next week with my take on the situation.
Last week Nigel faced his old rival, the former world champion Garry Kasparov in a two-day rapid-play match in St Louis, USA.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in