Poker professional and two-time U.S. ladies’s chess champion Jennifer Shahade introduced a lawsuit in opposition to U.S. Chess final week. The go well with alleges discrimination, retaliation, infliction of emotional misery, defamation and libel, invasion of privateness, and violating the New Jersey RICO Act.
Final 12 months, the Group PokerStars professional resigned from the federation as director of the U.S. Chess ladies’s program, alleging the group supplied “hostility as an alternative of help” and “constantly minimized or ignored” her allegations of sexual assault.
“As a sufferer and whistleblower, I’m preventing again in opposition to campaigns to silence me or talking up about sexual violence in chess,” she mentioned in saying the go well with. “It’s been my lifelong mission for girls and ladies to thrive on this sport. I’ve fought many battles on the chess board and on the poker desk, however this battle for a greater chess world is crucial one.”
Quite a few Allegations
Shahade had labored with U.S. Chess since 2006 and took on the function as director of the ladies’s program in 2018. After years of working with feminine chess gamers, she got here ahead alleging two situations of sexual assault in opposition to her by distinguished grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez.
The Wall Road Journal later reported that the federation “didn’t act or successfully examine” her allegations. Extra ladies then reached out to Shahade detailing their very own tales of sexual misconduct by Ramirez. He later resigned from roles on the St. Louis Chess Membership and as coach of the St. Louis College chess group.
Time’s up. pic.twitter.com/ItOv73lTX7
— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) February 15, 2023
Fees Not Taken Severely
Even after Shahade’s allegations had been made in 2020 and extra complaints in 2021, together with the assault of a 15-year-old woman, Ramirez was nonetheless named as coach of the U.S. ladies’s group on the World Chess Olympiad in India in 2022, which included greater than 100 minor feminine rivals, based on Shahade.
“With the reality out, I used to be hopeful, maybe naively so, that I might assist reset the items and forge a greater future inside U.S. Chess particularly for our ladies and kids,” she famous on SubStack after her resignation from the group. “As a substitute of help, I used to be greeted with hostility. My tweet – the one which lastly instigated penalties – was criticized by U.S. Chess.
The lawsuit additionally names U.S. Chess President Randy Bauer and author Peter Tamburro as defendants. Bauer is alleged to have lined up the complaints and confronted requires his resignation. U.S. Chess has denied the allegations and informed Chess.com, “We’ll defend ourselves vigorously.”
