Poker professional and two-time U.S. girls’s chess champion Jennifer Shahade introduced a lawsuit towards 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.
Last yr, the Team PokerStars professional resigned from the federation as director of the U.S. Chess girls’s program, alleging the group provided “hostility instead of support” and “consistently minimized or ignored” her allegations of sexual assault.
“As a victim and whistleblower, I am fighting back against campaigns to silence me or speaking up about sexual violence in chess,” she mentioned in saying the go well with. “It’s been my lifelong mission for women and girls to thrive in this game. I have fought many battles on the chess board and at the poker table, but this fight for a better chess world is the most important one.”
Numerous 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 cases of sexual assault towards her by distinguished grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that the federation “failed to act or effectively investigate” her allegations. More girls 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 Club and as coach of the St. Louis University chess group.
Time’s up. pic.twitter.com/ItOv73lTX7
— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) February 15, 2023
Charges Not Taken Seriously
Even after Shahade’s allegations have been made in 2020 and extra complaints in 2021, together with the assault of a 15-year-old lady, Ramirez was nonetheless named as coach of the U.S. girls’s group on the World Chess Olympiad in India in 2022, which included greater than 100 minor feminine rivals, in response to Shahade.
“With the truth out, I was hopeful, perhaps naively so, that I could help reset the pieces and forge a better future within U.S. Chess especially for our girls and children,” she noted on SubStack after her resignation from the group. “Instead 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 advised Chess.com, “We will defend ourselves vigorously.”
