Chess and cleavage – dress code story in the media

The dress code story

This is the story we published last Wednesday:

ECU Dress Code for chess tournaments 07.03.2012 – The European Women's Championship is the first where the new ECU Dress Code regulations apply. They are quite specific: regarding décolletés (in the US "cleavage"): "the second from the top button may be opened." And skirts may be no shorter than 5-10 cm above the knees. Anastasiya Karlovich quizzed the ECU General Secretary Sava Stoisavljevic on further specifics.

This weekend the international media discovered the story – with a vengeance. Here are a few of the articles we have thus far discovered in the broadsheets and news portals:

• TIME magazine:
  This isn’t the beer pong world championships – distractions during a championship chess game are surely unwarranted. An opponent across the table sporting a low-cut top could cause even the most expert chessman to focus on checking her out rather than delivering checkmate. So the European Chess Union has decided to lay out a dress code to keep the classiness in the game.

• New York Times:
  The World Chess Federation does not have a dress code. The one being used in Turkey was created by the European Chess Union. Players who wear dress shirts can only leave the top and second buttons undone. Headgear, except for religious reasons, is not allowed. Players must be “free of body odor.” Clothing should be free of holes and have “a pulled-together, harmonious, complete look.” And only jewelry “coordinated to the outfit may be worn.” Participants who violate the dress code can be barred from playing after two warnings. The men’s championship, which will take place this month in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, will also follow a dress code.

• New York Daily News:
  Chess tournament bans cleavage; two-button limit due to crude comments from spectators. Women who wear low-cut blouses to compete in chess tournaments are being put in check. New rules dictate that female players in the European Women’s Championship in Turkey cannot reveal “décolletés,” or cleavage.

• USA Today:
  Women players must button up during chess championships. The European Women's Championship in chess is telling women players to dress for success not for an evening out.

• Daily Mail:
  Checkmate! 'No cleavage' dress code makes chess tournaments less sexy than ever. Wearing a tight-fitting dress with a plunging neckline is certainly one way to distract your opponent in the ultimate battle of wits. But it is not a tactic which has found favour with European chess officials. They have introduced a dress code to make sure the game maintains its modesty. (With a nice picture of British chess champion Jovanka Houska "showing off her enviable figure").

• Huffington Post:
  European Chess Tournaments Soon To Be Less Cleavage-y, Thanks To New Rules. Female chess players, put away your two castles: The European Chess Union just released some new dress code rules for chess players, and they include some strict policies on cleavage. ChessBase.com (a great chess website, we're told) has an interview with Sava Stoisavljevic, General Secretary of the ECU, who speaks out on the new rules that the group has adopted, which are already being enforced at the European Women's Individual Chess Championship happening now in Turkey.

• RT Russian TV:
  Chessed: Players’ dress kept in check. The European Chess Union (ECU) has astonished chess players by introducing a new dress code, including some strict policies on cleavage exposure.

• The Mary Sue:
  Women told to cover their cleavage during chess tournaments. The world can be an annoying place for women. It’s a sad state of affairs to be sure, but most of us have come to expect crude comments will be made toward us at least one point (if not countless) in our lives, but there’s one place I never expected cat-calls would be a problem – a chess match. Turns out, I was very wrong. The European Women’s Championship in Turkey has installed new rules that ban cleavage. Part of the reason? To limit vulgar comments from those watching the matches. (The long and thoughtful report includes a sexy picture of Alexandra Kosteniuk).

There are more – we are told that even in Turkey the story has been in the big newspapers like Vatan, Haber Türk and Sabah. Who knows what is appearing in other countries and languages. It is even finding its way into news programs...

...like ABC's World News Now, which you can watch by clicking on the image above. And for those of you who do not know how to handle cleavage here is are instructions by Jerry Seinfeld.

So what do the players themselves think

Our intrepid reporter, WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, confronted with the international attention garnered by her interview (which, like the reports she sends us, also appeared on the official tournament site), leapt into action and asked a number of participants of the European Women's Championship in Gazaintep for their opinion on the new dress code. Her new report was accompanied by some interesting pictures.

IM Almira Skripchenko, rated 2468, France

Almira Skripchenko: I don’t think it’s very suitable to include dress-code rules in women tournaments. I think everyone is trying to do their best, and women should not be told what to wear. I don’t think it should be a rule and I don’t think anyone should be forced to follow it. Why does everyone want to punish us? I also mean the “zero tolerance” rule. It’s already a hard enough job playing chess (laughing). I believe that chess players should behave like normal human beings, and thus there is no need to make any special regulations for players. I think it’s really normal for every chess player to respect the efforts of the organizers and sponsors and try to look as decent as possible. Everyone should try to do their best. I think the organizers of private events can write down in the contracts whatever they want, even a dress-code rule. But we should not forget that most players paid by themselves to come here and play.

Adrian Mikhalchishin: I believe dress-code has nothing to do with women, because all women always try to do their best. Perhaps only sportive shoes could be forbidden. I think if young girls want to wear something nice (short skirts for example) it cannot be bad, it’s even interesting for spectators. I’m sure this rule was adopted for men. Some of them can easily appear wearing ragged T-shirts and shoes, unclean clothes… it’s really terrible what’s going on there. Even some players from the top ten don’t bother to pay attention to represent chess in a good way. Look, for example, at snooker players – they wear ties or bow-ties and it looks really great. Our trainer commission was trying to adopt the regulations which should be obliged for all players to wear some special uniform during team championships. It could be sportive or casual style, but it should be the same for the players from one team. FIDE has not done a lot in that direction, and I think that it’s a correct initiative of ECU to provide this rule.

Elisabeth Pähtz: It’s a big disaster for me that it’s impossible to wear hats here. I have a few of them which I really like, specially the one I was wearing in Wijk aan Zee. I think the ECU should reconsider the rule. My point is that this rule should first of all not apply for kids. Look at some of the girls who are playing here – they wear jeans and sport shoes –it’s against the rules, but nobody cares. You cannot say to a 12 or even 15-year-old girl: you should not wear sport shoes but high heels (laughing). At the same time everyone would notice hats. So if I now put my hat I’m curious if someone will reprimand me or not.

Sopico Guramishvili: I think there is some stuff which is a bit exaggerated, specially the rules concerning hats and buttons of the shirts. Otherwise it’s quite okay. I don’t think too much attention should be paid if women wear more classical or more sporting clothes. I don’t think the limits of the length of the skirt should be defined in those rules in the future. Look at the women here – there are no too revealing décolletés and no excessively short skirts – it’s a women only tournament and there are no men here (laughing). I personally like to wear mini-skirts and hats, but it’s okay as there will be other chess events without rules. I think these dress code rules are more for men, because I have to admit they dress quite weirdly.

Betul Yildiz: While playing chess it’s important for me to feel comfortable, so I think it’s not necessary to take any measures, and I believe everyone can wear everything, especially during Individual Championships. At the same time I think it’s normal to provide this rule for team championships where players can have common uniform. For example during Universiada we wear suites with symbols of our country.

Baira Kovanova: I think it’s a good idea to write in the rules that slippers and sportive cloths should be forbidden, but usually women dress quite well and pay attention to their cloths. There was one situation during the Grand Prix in China when I came to the game in one blouse which organisers considered to be too open. They asked me not to wear such an open décolleté, so I stopped doing it there. Actually it was a women event, so I didn’t know it could be distracting for anyone.

Natalia Pogonina: Maybe short skirts and open décolletés are acceptable during women events, but probably it’s not really ethical if women wear excessively open cloths during men’s events. Because it can disturb them actually (laughing). In any case I believe that we should respect the traditions of the countries in which we are playing. If the tournament takes place in Muslim countries we have to follow their rules, even it’s not written anywhere.

Elina Danielian: I believe it is an inappropriate rule for women chess, because no-one comes here wearing shorts or slippers. It can be forbidden to wear too open cloths because of religious traditions in the country, but I don’t think it can problem here in Turkey. I also disagree with the ban on wearing hats.

Nazi Paikidze: I think it’s not a good idea to make such rules and it’s stupid to forbid a woman to wear anything she likes.

WGM Anastasiya (Nastja) Karlovich was Ukrainian champion and vice-champion among girls under 16, 18 and 20. She was European Champion with the Ukrainian team in the Youth Team Championships. She is also a Teacher of Constitutional Law of Foreign Countries, International Law and European Union Law in the National Law Academy of Ukraine; a member of the chess club “Law Academy”; a member of the German club Grosslehna; one of the organisers of WGM and GM closed tournaments “Cup of Rector”; Press-officer of such international events: FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series (Qatar 2011, Russia 2011, China 2011), FIDE Women World Championship Match (Albania, Tirana, 2011), European Women Championship (Gazientep, 2012), Official Photographer from FIDE and CNC during the match Anand - Topalov (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2010) and the Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia, 2010). Freelance journalist (reporter and photographer) for the events organized by Turkish Chess Federation (2010 – present).

Top standings in the European Women's Championship after ten rounds

• Full results with all 103 players here

  Breaking news: Just after publishing this article we saw that Valentina Gunina beat Anna Muzychuk in the final round to become the new European Women's Champion. A full report will follow shortly.

Remaining schedule

All photos by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, with kind permission of the TCF

Links Official tournament site PGN: R01, R02, R03, R04, R05, R06, R07, R08, R09, R10 All games (zipped). The game file is non-standard (e.g. first half in CAPS) and will be cleaned up at the end of the event. The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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