Another controversy rocks the chess community as a platform Due to “ignoring sexual misconduct allegations against top grandmaster,” Chess.com severes relations with the St. Louis club.
Because of how the prominent St. Louis club handled accusations against grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez, Chess.com severed connections with it.
U.S. women’s champion Jen Shahade said Ramirez had sexually attacked her twice in February, but the club disregarded her claims.
Other women also came forward, including three who were under the age of 18 when the alleged assaults occurred.
As a result of Chess.com cutting connections with the prominent St. Louis club for reportedly handling sexual misconduct complaints improperly, the chess community is facing a #MeToo reckoning.
The action was taken in response to accusations made by U.S. women’s champion Jen Shahade in February that grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez had sexually assaulted her twice and that the St. Louis Chess Club and U.S. Chess had ignored her complaints for years.
The well-known website, which boasts more than 100 million users, has just announced that it will no longer fund or cover any St. Louis Chess Club events.
Chess.com chief chess officer Danny Rensch told The Wall Street Journal, “We are disappointed in how the leadership at the U.S. Chess Federation has handled this entire situation and hope to see improvements in transparency and action.”
Chess.com’s choice follows Lichess.org’s announcement last week that it will no longer collaborate with the St. Louis Chess Club and the U.S. Chess Federation ‘owing to major concerns about their lack of responsibility.’
Lichess.org is a non-profit chess server used to hold events.
Girls and women already have it tough when it comes to chess.
They should be in a secure and encouraging atmosphere, Lichess declared on its website.But far too frequently, they experience harassment, abuse, or worse.
They frequently feel helpless to report it or seek redress.
It’s time to contribute to ending the quiet.
Jen Shahade’s Twitter thread prompted several other women to come forward with accusations against Ramirez, including three who were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incidents.
A spokesman for U.S. Chess said in a statement that the organization is committed to ensuring the safety of its members and “will remain vigilant in identifying and adopting additional best practices.”
The women said that the grandmaster made unwanted sexual approaches toward them repeatedly and that he became physically hostile.
At the time, Ramirez’s attorney stated that his client “remains very supportive of those who seek to raise concerns about anyone.”
When they first learned of these and other charges, including the mistreatment of a 15-year-old, U.S. Chess and the St. Louis Chess Club did not respond, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ramirez was eventually suspended by U.S. Chess in May when St. Louis Chess Club announced that it had accepted his resignation.
All four members of the U.S. Chess Accessibility and Special Circumstances Committee resigned in protest of the lack of protection for female players, however the answer seemed to come too late.
Independent arbiter Judit Sztaray, who quit, remarked on social media, “So far, we haven’t seen any meaningful indication that our suggestions to US Chess to remedy sexual assault within its ranks will be seriously considered.”
One of the biggest scandals to hit the chess community occurred last year when an American grandmaster was charged with using anal beads to cheat.
In September of last year, Hans Niemann, then age 19, defeated Magnus Carlsen, widely regarded as the finest chess player in the world, without appearing to be paying attention.
Carlsen then accused Niemann of cheating.
Chess enthusiasts conjectured that a spy at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis who was observing the game would have used a computer program to calculate the ideal move before transmitting it via the vibrating sex toy.
Following Carlsen’s withdrawal from the competition, a Chess.com study revealed that Niemann had probably cheated in more than 100 online games.
Niemann vehemently refuted Carlsen’s claims, claiming that he had only ever cheated twice in his life, when he was 12 and 16, and that both transgressions were among his greatest regrets.
Niemann later remarked, “Since I was 12 years old, I have never, ever, ever cheated in a tournament with prize money, and I would never do that, that is the worst thing that I could ever do.”
“I never cheated while I was streaming.”
Remember that I was 16 years old, I had no desire to harm anyone, and they were just silly games.
I would never do it in a real game; I couldn’t even imagine it.
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