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ChessChick's
Guide To Girl Stuff
Crying Wolf
Well, the first thing
ChessChick wrote was about breasts; we have now descended to
buttocks. No, I'm not going to write about a rude male; this is a
story is about a bitchy female.
At a 4NCL tournament in
England, a Miss Forbes claims she was "sexually
assaulted" by her opponent who "slapped her
buttocks". At the time of the incident she was chatting up
the man who was serving tea. Her opponent had made his move and
started her clock, but she didn't notice. So, according to him,
he reached over and touched her somewhere around the waist and
told her that her clock was running. She claims that she was so
distressed by this "assault" that she was unable to
continue playing. The arbiter was called and the game declared
drawn. Her opponent was bewildered.
You can read WGM Susan
Lalic's April 7th column for The Chess Cafe
on the subject. (That column is archived
now.)
There are a number of points
that immediately struck me. I'll address the most charming first.
They have tea served
during tournaments?? I was momentarily transported to a spacious
tournament hall where a man pushes a trolley between the tables
and serves fine tea in china cups. The cups tinkle musically
against the saucers. Perhaps scones with clotted cream are served
or finger sandwiches. Sigh. It might worth a trip 'cross the pond
for a tournament experience like that!
Fantasy aside...on to the
fracas...
When, exactly did Forbes
become distraught and unable to continue play? Was it before or
after she finished that cup of tea? The man who served the teas
was apparently unaware of the incident until he was asked about
it sometime later. He said that he saw nothing improper pass
between them, so one might assume that Forbes did not whirl
around to her opponent and say, "Get your hand off my butt,
you beast!" If she had--and called the arbiter
straightaway--then the arbiter would have asked the witness (the
tea man) who was standing right there and saw the whole thing
what, exactly, he saw. (Answer: Nothing. If Henderson had really
whapped her butt, the guy would have certainly seen it!) That the
tea man had left the area and had to be tracked down sometime
much later (the impression WGM Lalic gives in her article is that
this happened days after the tournament was over) indicates that
perhaps Forbes did not become too distraught to play right away.
Maybe not until after her game had gone bad?
She was awarded a half point
for her distress, but I'd love to know what the final position
looked like--or what the position looked like at teatime. No one
seems to have paid any attention to the game. Which is a pity.
The game's the thing, to paraphrase Shakespeare.
The arbiter's decision to
declare the game drawn--without regard for the position, only the
lady's distress--is appalling. A draw??? If she really was
"slapped on the buttocks" by her opponent, then he
should have forfeited the game. I can't quote chapter and verse
of the rules on this sort of thing, but I was under the
impression that if one's opponent did something unspeakably awful
that he could be forfeited. The arbiter's decision to declare the
game drawn seems to say, "He did something wrong, but it
wasn't that bad so we'll only take a half point."
That's reprehensible! This is just ChessChick's opinion, but if
the arbiter thought Henderson had done something wrong, Henderson
should have been forfeited; if the arbiter did not think that
anything untoward happened then the game should have been played
out. That's what the arbiter is for--to make a ruling on whether
anything illegal or improper happened. Either it did or it
didn't. Since there was an independent witness (the tea man) it
should have been a cut and dried case. (Convenient that Forbes
did not become distressed until after the only witness had
utterly disappeared from the scene.)
Forbes was engrossed in
conversation with the tea man. This amazes me as conversations
are strictly forbidden in every tournament I've played. Couldn't Henderson
have complained that the conversation was distracting his
thinking?? Henderson says he reached over and touched Forbes
somewhere in the vicinity of her waist to get her attention and
tell her that her clock was running. If she had not had a cup of
hot tea in her hand, he says he would've tapped her elbow. This
sounds plausible. Instead of being grateful that he didn't just
sit there and let her clock run, Forbes unscrupulously used this
as an opportunity to try to get a forfeit point! In one statement
she made to the press she said that she was fed up and gave the
impression that she would not continue playing in these
tournaments. We can only hope! (No doubt the men in the league
are cheering wildly at the prospect.)
Given the amount of grief
and distress this has caused Henderson (he is apparently an
upstanding citizen, unbesmirched until now) I daresay he'll let
his opponent's clock run the next time, rather than risk having
his gentlemanly gesture misinterpreted!
Forbes ran crying to the
press and made a lot of rash, broad statements of the sort that
makes this chess chick cringe. Small wonder men think women are
hysterical. "No man is the ultimate villain in this piece. I
am not the victim of individual men. I, and they too, in fact,
are victims of a culture in the chess world (a worsened,
intensified microcosm of the sexism of the wider world) in which
contempt for women is at best tolerated and at worst promoted. It
is a culture that normalizes and trivializes psychological and
physical abuse of women..." All this because he tapped her
on the waist and told her her clock was running?? She also claims
that this incident is the third time she has been "sexually
assaulted" (her words) at a tournament.
This was not sexual
assault. I hope women who have been sexually assaulted
camp out on her lawn, accost her on the street and back her into
a wall until she gets it into her thick skull just what sexual
assault is. Her "distress" at her opponent touching her
to tell her that her clock was running is nothing compared
to the distress of a woman who has been assaulted.
Forbes sounds like a shrill,
publicity-seeking crybaby...no doubt she's satisfied that the men
in the chess league are all cringing and kowtowing to her. Her
actions at the time of the incident have all the earmarks of
someone using her gender to get a forfeit point. She's petty and
contemptible and has no idea how much damage her "crying
wolf" does to women in the chess community.
I have never been sexually
harassed at any chess event. Her statement which tracks with the
feminist "all women are victims: all men are scum"
school of thought is not one I subscribe to. In my experience men
in the chess community have been very helpful, encouraging and a
lot of fun to hang out with. Us chess chicks are not
"victims". Victim is a state of mind--a defeatist
state of mind.
There are incidents
of sexism and sexual harassment in the chess community simply
because within any group of people (even a small intelligent
group) you usually have at least one jerk.
Make no mistake. If a man
does something evil to you, fondles you, makes nasty lewd
sexual remarks, then slap him, stomp his foot, throw hot tea in
his face or whatever, but by all means complain to an
arbiter or TD if you are playing. On the other hand, if you brush
shoulders with someone in an elevator, don't get bent outta shape
about it!
Another point: if you have a
legitimate complaint about your opponent, don't sit on your hands
and wait until you've lost the game to tell someone that he was
harassing you. That's too late. Make your complaint promptly
and stand your ground. Act cool. Try to maintain your composure.
Nothing gives a Neanderthal more satisfaction than to know he got
to you. If for some reason the arbiter or TD rules against you
(say, there's no "tea man" who witnessed the incident),
then play the game out and eviscerate the bastard
on the board.
Never cry wolf and use your
gender to get an easy forfeit point. You're not doing yourself or
all us other chess chick's any favors.
Addendum: John
Henderson was kind enough to send me the game score from his
game. He did not comment on the controversy one way or another.
Here's the game:
Forbes,C - Henderson,J [A41] 4NCL (6)
1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4 3 Nbd2 Nf6 4 g3 e6 5 Bg2 Be7 6 c4 Nbd7 7 0-0 0-0 8 h3
Bh5 9 g4 Bg6 10 Nh4 c6 11 Nxg6 hxg6 12 g5 Ne8 13 Nf3 d5 14 Qb3
Rb8 15 Bf4 Bd6 16 Ne5 Qc7 17 Nxd7 Qxd7 18 Bxd6 Nxd6 19 cxd5 cxd5
20 Rac1 Rfc8 ½-½
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