Yet Polgar says she's faced taunts and jeers throughout her career in competitive chess simply because she's a woman. The girl had been taught chess by her mother and had just begun to play in and win tournaments. They would say things like, 'Oh, I get to play against a girl. That does a number on a young chess player's self-esteem, and this girl ended up dropping out of chess altogether. According to Anjelina Belakovskaia, a chess grandmaster from the Ukraine, it's because there aren't enough women's tournaments.
Men have many more tournaments to choose from.
Belakovskaia recently quit her job as a currency trader in order to teach chess at public schools. She discovered that while most of the young girls she taught were interested in becoming adept players, few aspired to make a career out of chess. Because they see plenty of women role models who are making lots of money, are famous and have a good life. The USCF and other chess groups are undertaking initiatives to increase the number of women chess players. One is to increase the number of female players in the public spotlight so that they serve as role models and spokespeople.