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I am NOT asking for the percentage of chess players that are women.

I am asking for the percentage of players who are women in the sections where both men and women can play in.
That percentage is obviously lower than the percentage of chess players that are women because many women prefer to play in women-only sections.

In other words the question could be rephrased as: if I'm a man and tomorrow I'll play a game in a tournament, what's the probability that my opponent is a woman?

You can answer for either USCF or FIDE, it doesn't matter which one.

Fate
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  • In my experience women-only sections are pretty rare in USCF tournaments except for championships of some kind (including scholastic championships), so for almost all tournaments the percentages will be the same. – dfan Dec 02 '15 at 19:31
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    Women-only sections hardly exist, except at top level. – RemcoGerlich Dec 03 '15 at 07:46
  • Oh. And is this also the case for FIDE tournaments? – Fate Dec 03 '15 at 11:25
  • Yes, as far as I am concerned. There are special prizes for women but they play in the same section as men. – S - Dec 03 '15 at 11:39
  • See e.g. http://chess-calendar.eu/ . Actually there are two female youth events among the events on the first page now, but then the next one is on page 5 I think. – RemcoGerlich Dec 03 '15 at 13:19
  • are you looking for like percentages in the most recent competitions for each competition internationally and for each local competition for every country? – BCLC Sep 01 '21 at 14:33

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In France, there are women only team championships but not all women chess players supports them.

Here is the point of view of Mathilde Choisy (WFM, FIDE 2181), in French http://echecsetmixte.fr/?p=665

The main points are :

  • If you want to make progress, don't think about women competitions, think bigger and aim for results in "general" competitions. A top 20 in French mixed youngster championship is a better result than a top 3 in European Girl championship.
  • France has only a few active women players rated 2000+ so they always play against each other in these competitions
  • If you stay too long in girl competitions, you won't realize the gap in level with the boys until it's too late
  • Women championships promotes "amateur chess" but are no use for professionnal competitions.

It's clearly not an answer to the question but I think it's worth sharing.

Btw I met my wife in an French mixed open, so there are some chances that you'll played against some. I checked the data for this open and here are the rates :

  • Open A , Elo >1700 : 5-10% women
  • Open B, Elo <1800 : 12-15% women
Benjamin Baumann
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