Breaking Barriers and Making History
What Lazy Women Do Best
Dear Lazies,
Brat summer is in full force and we can’t get enough of it.
In this month’s newsletter we’ve gone a tad sport-mad doing what Lazy Women do best… deep-diving into hidden sporting histories of women. We’ve also jampacked links for new articles, podcast and playlist recommendations and other exciting event news. This issue features illustrations by Fdor, a non-binary artist based in Paris and Eszter Kondász, a Hungarian illustrator.
P.S. We’re taking our usual social media break during August (a habit you can surely steal and use for your own good;)), but don’t worry, we’ll be back in September with more news, articles and events!
Your Lazies
As a person very far from sports, I often drop a delusional "I hope all teams have fun :)" in conversations with friends now. Small talk about the games is a necessity, as I happen to live in Paris, the host of the Olympics of 2024.
Reading articles about the historic female-male Olympic balance this year, I couldn’t help but think about one sport that, for some reason, is still separated into ‘male’ and ‘female’ categories: chess. Despite the obvious fact that intellect doesn’t differ based on sex, these categories persist.
This separation has not stopped many remarkable women from excelling in the world of chess. Many female players have shattered stereotypes and risen to prominence on the global stage, demonstrating that talent and skill in chess transcend gender. Let's delve into the achievements and contributions of some of these extraordinary women who have made a significant impact on the chess world!
1️⃣ Vera Menchik (1906-1944), the first and undefeated
She was born in Moscow, in an Anglo-Czech family. The future champion learned to play chess at the age of 9, becoming a member of Hastings chess club at 15, after having moved to London with her family. At 21, she won the first world chess championship among women. She defended her title multiple times in various tournaments - from Hamburg to Buenos-Aires. Since 1929 she turned her sight to men’s tournaments.
Fun fact: Albert Becker, a master from Vienna, proposed to start a ‘Vera Menchik’s club’, which would include all the men (masters and grandmasters) she’d beat. The first member, ironically, was Becker himself. (Not for long, as 33 more men ‘joined’ soon).
She died with her mother and sister in London on June 27, 1944 - from the explosion of a Nazi rocket, right at the peak of her career. She remained the world champion till the end of her life, dying undefeated.
2️⃣ Nona Gaprindashvili (1941), a queen not afraid to risk
Nona is a Soviet and Georgian chess player, who became a champion of Georgia at 15 and the world champion (among women) at 21. She would go on to continue defending her title for 16 years. The Netflix ‘Queen’s Gambit’ mistakenly stated that she ‘has never played men’, (shame on Netflix!) but she was literally the first woman who received the title of an international grandmaster among men (1977), a ‘chess queen’, as contemporaries would call her.
She started her chess journey when she was 5, with her brothers (also future chess players) teaching her. Since the age of 12, she would spend almost all of her free time practicing.
She became the first international grandmaster among women and the first international grandmaster among men, spent 6 years as a chairwoman in the women FIDE committee and even received a ‘Chess Oscar’ (yes)! Tbilisi perfume factory even dedicated a scent Nona to her, sold in a bottle shaped as a chess piece!
The title of Nona’s book conveys her game style perfectly - ‘I Prefer Risk’.
3️⃣ Judit Polgár (1976), a beast on the board
Judit Polgár is widely celebrated as one of the most formidable and trailblazing chess players in history. Born in 1976, in a Hungarian-Jewish family in Budapest, Polgár shattered stereotypes in the male-dominated world of chess. Trained under the unconventional methods of her father, Laszlo Polgar, who believed in nurturing child prodigies through intensive early education, Judit and her sisters were homeschooled with a rigorous focus on chess.
Here’s what Laszlo said about women-only tournaments:
"Women are able to achieve results similar to those of men in the field of intellectual activity. Chess is an intellectual game, so we reject any discrimination against women."
She won her first international chess tournament at 9, and by the age of 15, she had earned the title of Grandmaster, surpassing the record set by the legendary Bobby Fischer. Her ascension didn't stop there; she consistently defeated top-ranked male players, including world champions Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, and Vladimir Kramnik. Defeating Kasparov was a particularly badass move, as he had earlier expressed doubts about her abilities:
"She has a fantastic chess talent, but she's a woman after all! It all comes down to the imperfection of the female psyche, no woman can withstand a long battle."
In 2005, she peaked as the eighth in the world rankings, the highest position ever held by a woman.
One should admire her relentless defiance of gender norms in chess. She competed exclusively in open tournaments, rejecting the notion of segregating women’s competitions from men’s. Her aggressive and imaginative style of play, characterized by bold sacrifices and deep calculations, earned her respect and fear from her opponents. ‘She has a killer instinct, sensing the mate 20 moves ahead’.
Polgár, in her turn, once mentioned that she’s never won a game with ‘healthy’ men:
‘When men lose to me, it turns out that they had a headache or something like that. I've never beaten a perfectly healthy chess player before.’
New Lazy Articles
Both July’s articles were written by Selin and focus on current UK politics (check them out if you haven’t already) from an immigrant and feminist perspective. Let us know your thoughts by commenting on our Instagram or on the website itself!
On July 13, we hosted our annual meet-up in Paris, a safe space to connect and meet new people :) Despite the rain, we ended up spending more than 6 hours together, not wanting to leave - it was really beautiful! Thanks for everyone who joined us!
Reach out to us if you want to help us organise a similar event in your city 💖
For our London-based lazies - our friends from the Home on Me Collective, a duo of female artists, are inviting you to their first commercial exhibition, Home Body by Zehra Marikar. Zehra is an artist from South India of Muslim Sri Lankan descent.
The exhibition features painting and self-portrait and is a potent exploration of gender identity and womanhood, self-expression and navigating the world as a young woman.
Talking of sports - we’ve got a perfect playlist for your summer exercises! ;) Don’t forget to check it out — here’s our July mixtape, perfect for 1 hour of your training, walking, or dancing 🌞🌴 Find more playlists of ours and follow us on Spotify 👇
Missing our Pod? Us, too! While we’re working on future episodes, we want to encourage you to check out our friends from Europod, a network of podcasts about all things Europe. You can find something interesting for you in multiple languages! Here are our team’s recommendations in English:
The other side of the Olympic medal by Europe, Day by Day; a 5 minute news episodes
The French electoral results as seen through the eyes of independent media by Europe Talks Back, a storytelling podcast
AI and Equality by AI and You, a podcast answering the questions you wanted to know about AI
Whilst you’re sat somewhere comfy watching others go for gold, we wonder what the Olympic sports you watch (and/or get intensely hyped about having never been a prior fan) mean about your personality type. Think of it like an Olympic Zodiac list… what will the stars say about you?
Can’t stop watching Artistic Gymnastics? - You’re not destined to work behind a desk 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Instead, you should consider jumping from job to job until you find your niche, something with a little pizzazz. At worst, frolicking in fields and avoiding all responsibility also works… what’s a few late bills?
Tuned in for the Fencing? - You’re the non-committal type, period. Either you’re no longer in a relationship because of your prickly personality or your current romantic relationship is in jeopardy unless you take a daring leap of faith and take it to the next step. The next move is yours…
A so-called fan of Skateboarding? - Depending on how you identify, you’re either going through an emotional period of nostalgia as a millennial or as Gen Z, your Urban Outfitters shopping cart is already at 300 euros (before shipping). Needless to say, you’re feeling slightly self-conscious that you’ll never be as cool as these Olympians (and that’s okay).
On the edge of your seat for the 4x100 relay? - Clearly you’re running away from your problems but then so are your friends. It sounds like you all have some growing pains to figure out… both as a friendship group and as individuals. Luckily, we predict this will only take effect for a short period of time… if you’re also considering watching the 4x400 relay however, then more angst is coming your way - good luck.
Which other sports are you obsessed with? Let us know in the comments and we’ll send you a prediction!
p.s. Our newsletter team is fully volunteer-based. We’re working on every issue throughout the whole month — picking a topic, collecting submissions and illustrations, writing and editing.
If you like what we do, consider supporting our work here 👇