Playing one’s natural game, one move at a time, is the key to performance at elite levels, and playing against players not facing these financial pressures adds an extra element of hardship to what is already a brutal climb. Once again, women in chess face even more in the way of disadvantage. “If you take a 16-yearold boy, he’ll play tournaments continuously. Parents usually can send the boy alone abroad and make him play. Whereas, when it comes to a girl, they might feel restricted. Financial expenditure could be more if you travel with a girl,” Koneru Humpy, former women’s World Champion and India’s highest-rated female player, once told ESPN in an interview. Expenses like international travel only exacerbate a situation that is barely comfortable for the average Indian parents and the society. As a result, more women players are forced to quit the sport than their male counterparts.
However, on or off the board, sponsored or not, some challenges are universal for kids playing in international tournaments. Surprisingly enough, the most common one cited in my interviews is gastrointestinal: cuisines in different countries can be wildly different, and finding satisfying, healthy meals can potentially be a tournament-defining factor. Heena Sadhwani,...
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