WHY IS KAZAKHSTAN'S GENDER GAP AT THE TOP OF CHESS SO SMALL? A BIRTH-COHORT COMPARISON ON THE FIDE RATING LIST

Abstract

In most countries the best men in chess are rated far higher than the best women. Kazakhstan is an exception among its neighbours. In this study I used the official FIDE standard rating list for September 2026 and counted only active players, because an inactive rating shows an old level, not a current one. The difference between the average rating of the ten best men and the ten best women in Kazakhstan was 154 points, against 301 in Russia, 398 in Uzbekistan and 403 in Kyrgyzstan. This cannot be explained by participation, because the share of women among active players in Kazakhstan (17.7%) was not higher than in these countries. To test whether the small gap is a Soviet legacy, I split the players by year of birth. Among players born before 1985 the gap was 462 points, while among players born in 2000 or later it was 133 points, and among players born in 2005-2009 it was 142 points, against 315 in Russia, 334 in Uzbekistan and 392 in Kyrgyzstan for the same years of birth. Without the two strongest women the gap in Kazakhstan rose to 220 points, which is still smaller than in any of the three neighbours. The small gap is therefore held by the young generation, not by the Soviet one. The first world youth titles of Kazakhstani girls came in 2008-2011, when the players born in 2005-2009 were young children. This matches the role-model explanation in time, but the rating list cannot show that it was the cause.

Keywords: chess, gender gap, FIDE rating, birth cohort, role models, Kazakhstan

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Дәйексөз келтіру үлгісі

Yerboluly Madi WHY IS KAZAKHSTAN'S GENDER GAP AT THE TOP OF CHESS SO SMALL? A BIRTH-COHORT COMPARISON ON THE FIDE RATING LIST // Central Asian Scientific Journal. – 2026. – No. 4(32), Vol. 1. – Pp. 330–334.