Chess for Women & Girls – Hampton Roads Chess Association

The Challenges

For various reasons, women and girls make up only around 15% of total US Chess members across the country.

Many clubs, HRCA included, has difficulty retaining girls beyond the elementary school years.

How HRCA Is Addressing These Challenges

HRCA works hard to improve recruitment and retention of girls in chess in our region.
With the help of generous grant funding from the United States Chess Federation, HRCA has invested thousands of dollars into our chess programming for women and girls over the past few years.

As a result, our youth programs boast a far greater number of girls than the national average!

Not all girls (or kids in general) are interested in competitive chess. Girls report that chess provides a tremendous self-confidence boost in addition to the other well-known academic and life benefits of chess. Noting that girls also gravitate toward each other in a chess club setting, HRCA started a Girls Club, where girls can learn, play, and socialize with “no boys allowed”.

Our Girls Rock Chess Club has weekly meetings for informal instruction and casual play, social events during the year, and a big empowerment/tournament weekend to wrap-up the season!

While girls can and do compete against boys in chess tournaments, they sometimes enjoy a tournament of their own.
HRCA ran its first Chess Girls Rock tournament and social weekend event in June 2023 with 44 girls. Our event in June 2024 saw an increase to 65 girls!

HRCA strongly encourages all girls to attend the All-Girls National Championship in Chicago every April.

For 2024-2025, we are introducing a free casual chess meetup for women and girls ages 16+ — The HRCA Chess Queens!