Israeli Chess Grandmaster Ilya Smirin was let go his first day on the job as an English-language commentator for the International Chess Federation, also known as FIDE, over sexist comments he made during the Women’s Grand Prix in Kazakhstan on Tuesday. Smirin praised GM Aleksandra Goryachkin for “playing like a man” and admitted that he’d privately suggested chess was “maybe not for women.” “I didn’t say it openly... in private, private conversation,” Smirin told his fellow commentator. The GM, who was commentating games alongside Luxemburg’s Woman International Master Fiona Steil-Antoni, also suggested that his co-host hadn’t achieved very much since she had never played a Sicilian defense, a popular chess opening. “FIDE not only strives to increase women’s representation in professional sports and official positions but also to change the perception of chess as purely a men’s world,” the chess federation wrote in a statement, calling Smirin’s comments “completely unacceptable.”
