The Queen is the most powerful piece in chess . But one of the UK ’ s most well-known grandmasters has angered women by saying they aren ’ t smart enough to play the game . Nigel Short , 49 , said women were not suited to playing chess because it required logical thinking . The chess commentator and writer said women should accept they were ‘ hard-wired very differently ’ and weren ’ t as adept at playing chess as men . Mr Short , who was the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match , made the comments when explaining why there were so few women in competitive chess . Nigel Short has controversially claimed women were not suited to playing chess because it required logical thinking . But critics immediately pointed out that he lost a high-profile game against a woman grandmaster . He told New in Chess magazine : ‘ Why should [ men and women ] function in the same way ? ‘ I don ’ t have the slightest problem in acknowledging that my wife [ Rea ] possesses a much higher degree of emotional intelligence than I do . 'Likewise , she doesn ’ t feel embarrassed in asking me to manoeuvre the car out of our narrow garage . ‘ One is not better than the other , we just have different skills . It would be wonderful to see more girls playing chess , and at a higher level , but rather than fretting about inequality , perhaps we should just gracefully accept it as a fact. ’ His comments mirror those of his rival Garry Kasparov , who infamously said : ‘ Women , by their nature , are not exceptional chess players : they are not great fighters. ’ Female chess players reacted angrily to Mr Short ’ s statements last night . Hungarian Judit Polgar , above , the former women ’ s world champion , beat Nigel Short eight classical games to three in total . Amanda Ross , the leader of the Casual Chess club in London , told The Daily Telegraph the comments were ‘ incredibly damaging when someone so respected basically endorses sexism ’ . She added : ‘ Judit Polgar , the former women ’ s world champion , beat Nigel Short eight classical games to three in total , with five draws . ‘ She must have brought her man brain . ‘ Let ’ s just hope Nigel didn ’ t crash his car on those days , trying to park it . 'At least this resolves the age-old debate as to whether there ’ s a direct link between chess-playing ability and intelligence . Clearly not. ’ Mr Short responded to Miss Ross ’ s comments on Twitter , writing : You seem to suffer from incomprehension . ‘ Men and women do have different brains . This is a biological fact . ‘ Furthermore , I never said women have inferior brains . That is your crude and false attempt to caricature me. ’ Less than two per cent of grandmasters are female , but Hungarian Miss Polgar broke into the upper echelons of the game when she became one of the youngest grandmasters of all time at the age of 15 .
Nigel Short said women should accept they 're ‘ hard-wired very differently ’ Made comments when explaining why there were so few women in chess . Comment: