[goldenkey]

You can't just make stuff up. Hou Yifan says herself that chess is very exhausting and men have an advantage in this aspect.

"I think there is a physical aspect because chess exhausts a lot of energy, especially when games last 6-7 hours, and here women could be more disadvantaged."

Why deny differences in biology to further a false reality?

https://www.chess.com/article/view/hou-yifan-interview-chess

[approxim8ion]

You mean the same Hou Yifan who said multiple times that she was speculating?

[goldenkey]

I'd trust the world champion of chess to not mention physicality as a possible reason unless it had merit. She's been playing chess her whole life.

[approxim8ion]

I'm not disagreeing with her opinion or negating her experiences, it's not my place. That said, classical (3h+) isn't the only form of chess, and it could be something that is personal to her and not representative of female players as a monolith.

[goldenkey]

Logically speaking, it's still a disadvantage even if it's one that matters less in some scenarios. Gender is highly predictive of a lot of biological statistics. Truly, we should be basing brackets on the biological stats themselves and make gender segregation a thing of the past. How will people react when the brackets reflect genetic potential rather than gender potential? Probably just as oppositional. People hate being told that someone else has a higher potential than them even if it's true. I don't blame them. But we can't live in a reality where we pretend that some aren't better built for certain endeavors.