A chess Grandmaster has been fired from his job after making sexist comments while commentating at a women’s tournament.
Iiya Smirin, an Israeli Grandmaster, made the sexist comments on September 27 during a live broadcast of the Women’s Grand Prix, causing the International Chess Federation to remove him as an official commentator. This was Smirin’s first English broadcast, and he took the opportunity to make distasteful comments about female players in the predominantly male scene, effectively eliminating any chance of him commentating again in any language for FIDE.
While Grandmaster Zhu Jiner was competing against fellow female Grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina, Smirin commented: “Why does she want to be like a male Grandmaster in this case?”
When the other commentator, Fiona Steil-Antoni, questioned his outward disdain for women in the competitive chess scene, Smirin asked why women can play with men but men cannot play with women, seeming dismissive of her title as a Grandmaster.
“You’re saying chess is maybe not for women?” Steil-Antoni asked.
“I didn’t say it openly. I said it in a private conversation,” Smirin replied.
Later in the tournament, Smirin made more sexist comments, this time directed at Steil-Antoni. He asked her what she would do during one of the matches and Steil-Antoni admitted she had never played Sicilian Defense “in her life.”
In response, Smirin said Steil-Antoni “maybe didn’t achieve too much.”
Many women and men reacted with shock to the commentary, with Woman Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade saying how “gross” it was to see blatant sexism during the event’s broadcast. In response to the backlash, Emil Sutovsky, director-general of FIDE, said that Smirin has “sincerely apologized.” But the promise of an on-air apology wasn’t enough for the chess community.
“Although we have great respect for Grandmaster Ilya Smirin as a chess player, the views he expressed on air are completely unacceptable, offensive, and do not represent any of the values that FIDE stands for,” FIDE said.
The organization added in its update that it strives “to increase women’s representation” in chess, which is often seen as a “man’s world.” FIDE aims to include people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. The diversity, however, sometimes leads to unpopular opinions that are not acceptable to others, FIDE continued.
“It is our duty to do everything in our hands to prevent that. We will continue working to raise awareness, and fight these ‘outdated’ views in the best way: making the members of the chess community more educated,” FIDE said.
