The Shadow of Hijab Over the Women's World Chess Championship in Iran

The World Chess Federation has announced that Iran will host the Women's World Chess Championship in 2017. This decision was put to a public vote during the World Chess Olympiad. Consequently, 64 of the world's top female chess players will compete against each other. Among them, two players from the national teams of the USA and Ecuador have stated that they will not participate in the competition due to the mandatory hijab in Iran. According to Susan Polgar, chair of the FIDE Women’s Commission, no objections were registered from the USA, and none of the 159 members present at the assembly objected to granting hosting rights to Iran. Nigel Short, the former English coach of the Iranian national team, and Garry Kasparov, a chess legend, are among the prominent figures who agree with Nazí Pakidze and Carla Heredia. Before the Iranian presidential elections in 2013, Kasparov held an online election for Iranians to vote for one of the twenty candidates he introduced on his website. In addition to the eight candidates approved by the Guardian Council, he included Mohammad Khatami, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Jafar Panahi, Reza Pahlavi, Maryam Rajavi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Narges Mohammadi, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in his list of preferred candidates. The president of the Iranian Chess Federation commented on Kasparov's opposition to Iran's hosting, stating to the newspaper Shargh: 'He was a candidate for the presidency of the World Federation and since he did not win the vote, he has clashed with FIDE. He is exploiting the issue of Iran's hosting to challenge the World Federation.' As discussions intensified in official media and social networks regarding the chess competition, the Asian Youth and Junior Climbing Championships were held in Iran. This sport is very difficult to perform with Islamic dress. Nevertheless, foreign teams were compelled to participate in the competitions wearing Islamic hijab. Iran's state television, according to the sports network's broadcast schedule, aired eight hours of the competitions live but did not show even eight seconds of the women's events! Photos released from foreign teams indicate that most of them were not strictly adhering to the hijab and only covered part of their hair with clothing approved by the Islamic Republic. However, there was no discussion about the difficulties of climbing with mandatory clothing, and no criticism regarding the imposition of hijab on foreign teams was observed in international media. In Mr. Pehlavanzadeh's statements, there is also a reference to Israel: 'We have restrictions on hosting men because Israel is present in this section, and we cannot host them. In women's competitions, since Israel had no representative, we took the hosting.' Given the time remaining until the World Championships, it is unclear whether the World Federation would change the host if Israel applies to participate in the global event. They do not have a player among the 64 qualified chess players, but any country that is a member of the World Federation has the right to send its coaches or officials to supervise the global competitions in the host city. In the Iranian team, Mitra Hajizadeh, who won the Asian championship last year, has been granted a quota by FIDE to participate in the World Championship. FIDE allows the host to have two additional players. Iran has also selected Sara Khademalsharieh as the second player. The selection of the third player is up to the technical staff. Nazí Pakidze from the USA team explained her reasons for opposition, stating to the Telegraph: 'It is unacceptable for competitions to be held in a place where women are required to wear hijab.' However, Pehlavanzadeh, the president of the Iranian Chess Federation, claimed in an interview with Shargh newspaper: 'Rest assured that this player who protests against the mandatory hijab will come to Tehran and participate in the competitions. Her teammates have come to Tehran many times and even participated in our league.'