👧There is strong evidence that girls leave chess more often than boys, and the gap becomes bigger with age. This does not seem to be about ability. Among standard-rated players, women represent only 10.3%, but the situation varies a lot between countries. In Mongolia, almost 38% of active FIDE players are women. In Sri Lanka, around 35%. This shows how much environment and opportunities matter. That is why women’s chess is one of the priorities of my presidential programme. Studies show that female players benefit from having other female players around them. Girls also tend to perform better in places where female participation in chess is higher. So if we want more girls to stay in chess, we need to create better conditions for them. And we are already starting to do this. “Smart Moves: Girls Who Lead” was a girls’ chess event organised by ISCF and FIDE Americas in Costa Rica. A blitz tournament for girls under 16 was followed by a masterclass with WIM María Elena Rodríguez, a member of the Costa Rican Women’s National Team. She spoke about her own path in chess, confidence, perseverance and how chess helped her outside the board as well. Another important guest was Tris-Ann Richards, Chair of the FIDE Commission for Women's Chess and President of the Saint Lucia Chess Federation. By the way, Saint Lucia has an all-female team playing these days in Costa Rica. For young girls, it was very important to see women who have already made their way in chess. We plan to increase the number of female chess players through larger prize funds and more dedicated competitions. We also want to bring more women into FIDE leadership and management. Here we have a clear KPI: a minimum of 35% gender representation in all FIDE appointments. I have already seen that this kind of change is possible. Finance, business and technology have traditionally been considered male-dominated areas. Still, in 2026, women make up 46% of employees at Freedom Holding Corp. We are already very close to gender balance. We managed to make serious progress in finance. I believe we can do the same in chess. #TurlovforChess #womeninchess