Is there a gender advantage in the game of chess? Kenyan player Stanley Omondi certainly thought so. The 25-year-old disguised himself as a woman to compete in his country’s female open chess tournament, reported the BBC, and almost got away with it after...
“We also noticed he was not talking, even when he came to collect his tag, he couldn’t speak, ordinarily, when you are playing, you speak to your opponent... because playing a chess game is not war its friendship.”
Wanjala believes he thought his odds would be better in the women’s category given the higher standard of play in the men’s part of the tournament. Wanjala said that while he was likely to get a ban of “several years”, he would not be excluded from chess forever. The case will also be referred to the International Chess Federation, or Fide, he said.