Male chess players refuse to surrender longer against women

And other stories from the stranger side of life

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(Image credit: Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images for World Chess by Agon Limited)

A new study has found that male chess players are so keen not to lose to a woman that they play for longer against female opponents. Researchers from the King’s College London, who analysed data from 79,000 games, found that men play 8% longer to avoid the “psychological cost“ of losing to a woman. The Telegraph noted that chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer once said female players were “stupid compared to men” and “shouldn’t play chess”.

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.