Some of you probably know that there are two kinds of chess tournaments. An open section (both, men and women are allowed to play) and the women's section (self explanatory). In chess you can get different titles, such as the Grand Master title. In 1980, new titles were introduced, which only women can get. This, the women exclusive tournaments and titles, were brought to life to get more women to play chess.

In sports women often earn less than their male counterparts, which is because they are less economically successful. The same is true for chess, therefore women's only tournaments had lower prizes than the open section.

https://norwaychess.no/en/2024/09/30/from-milestone-to-tradition-norway-chess-women-continues-in-2025/#:\~:text=2024%3A%20A%20Landmark%20Year%20for%20Women's%20Chess&text=Benedicte%20Westre%20Skog%2C%20co%2Downer,it's%20a%20reality%20this%20year.

This is an article of the official Norway Chess webpage. For those who don't know: Norway Chess is a very prestigious tournament in the chess world. There is also a women's section. In the past the prize funds were lower for women than for the open tournament.

Not only is the women's tournament less of a success economically, the competitors are also weaker. Not to mention that women are allowed to compete in both tournaments, the women's only and open section, while men are only allowed to the latter.

Now in the article above it was announced that the price funds for the 2025 Norway Chess Tournament and the 2025 Norway Chess Woman Tournament are equal.

They also said that they don't want to do this once, but for every Norway Chess Tournament in the future.

Let's be real, this is just discrimination against men. Not only does it not make sense to give the same money, because they are less profitable, but also because they have to be less capable. Women are as capable mentally as men (I thought?), unlike in sports where men have an advantage.

Personally, I think it is alright if there are women only tournaments (even though there are valid arguments against it), but equal prize funds for unequal skill? I don't think I have to say much more, every person with 2 brain cells will see the issue.

(I am not 100% sure if this is correct, but in the comment section of another thread a user claimed that to make this possible, the open tournament has reduced it's amount of competitors from 10 to 6, which would mean that 4 very capable player now don't get the opportunity to compete in this tournament and also lose a source of income. Not to mention that this makes the whole competition less entertaining)