The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. A groundbreaking work about the U.S. Women's Chess Championships and the 29 women who won the title between 1937 and 2020 has been published by McFarland. Johannes Fischer wanted to know more and interviewed Alexey Root, the author of the book.
The John G. White Collection of Chess and Checkers is the largest and most comprehensive collection of printed material on chess. While its physical location is Cleveland, Ohio, chess researchers and aficionados may also view parts of the collection online. On July 21, 2021, Woman International Master Alexey Root visited the Cleveland Public Library, which houses the collection. | Photos: Alexey Root
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Percentage female?
When analyzing ratings and their distribution among United States Chess Federation (US Chess or USCF) members, keep in mind that there are fewer girls and women than boys and men. Among recent members (12/31/2020 or later expiration date), 12.4% are coded as female, 85.4% are coded as male, and 2.2% are uncoded (M. Nolan, personal communication, February 23, 2021). From 1972–2000, that percentage was 5% or lower.
Al Lawrence, Executive Director of USCF from 1988-1996, wrote a memorandum, distributed to the USCF Policy Board and the Women’s Chess Committee, about “Female Membership in USCF.” The memorandum is listed internally at USCF as “100 BINFO #93-397” with a date of October 22, 1993. There’s a hand-written note about some members not being coded for age or gender, affecting the percentages. According to his memorandum, in 1993 girls and women combined were 4.65% of the total USCF membership (3,340 of 71,794 members).