2x US Women's Champion, Jennifer Shahade, Sues US Chess
PLUS an unreleased interview of Shahade from last summer!
Before we get into the case, I want everyone to know that I have published a previously unreleased interview of Jennifer Shahade on my podcast, The Chess Lounge. The interview is from last summer at the 2023 US Open. It is just wonderful with her talking about her chess family, winning the US Women’s Championship, becoming an author, life as a chess mom and more!
In tough times, it is important to highlight the accomplishments of people like Shahade. Please take a moment to listen to her story. She does an amazing job of handling the interview with grace, without any negativity, despite being under horrible pressure from US Chess at the time of recording. And, for full disclosure, Shahade was my editor at US Chess Online and I have been a big supporter of her quest to make chess more equitable for all.
On to the lawsuit…
Last Wednesday, July 17th, I received an email that shocked me: 2x US Women’s Champion, WGM Jennifer Shahade had filed a 6 count complaint against US Chess. Please see a very well written article by Marianna Wharry on the breakdown of the complaint and background. I have followed the Chess Me Too story from day one after being absolutely depressed at how a prominent GM and predator could be allowed to abuse women and girls for so long. Then, I was even further disheartened at how US Chess subsequently blamed the girls that were abused, campaigned to discredit Shahade and then pushed her out from her role as Director of US Chess Women, the very program that she started.
To make matters worse, American Chess Magazine published a hit piece earlier this year that quoted anonymous sources from US Chess and funneled them through chess journalist Pete Tamburro in order to further smear Shahade’s image. The wild thing about this last salvo is that I interviewed Pete in September of last year where he made odd and cryptic remarks about “due process” for the accused. These sentiments were echoed in his article which I naively wrote him an email pleading him to retract it. No response. US Chess, it’s board President Randy Bauer and Pete Tamburro have all been engaged in the sad and disgusting practice of victim blaming. I believe it is all coordinated to protect US Chess.
(Personal note: I find it bizarre to talk about due process in a case where likely none of the women whom were abused will ever see their abuser prosecuted in a court of law.)
Institutions across the US and the world suffer from this same problem where they would rather go into damage control mode than fix the problem. It’s a major issue no matter where and at what subculture you look. Why? If you look at the composition of the US Chess Executive Board, you will see a microcosm of this. Seven out of eight board members are men. Progress has been made in the Executive Director position with the current interim executive director, Ranae Bartlett and the previous two, Caroll Meyer and Jean Hoffman all being women. But, that does not mean they aren’t beholden to the men on the board. Gender parity in all of these organizations is lacking and equity for women in society is still a far off goal that we all need to fight hard for because misogynists are certainly fighting to keep society imbalanced.
Case in point is that US Chess had refused to enter mediation even after offering to do so previously. I didn’t understand the significance of this until I read an update that Marianna Wharry posted two days ago. From the complaint filed in New Jersey, Wharry pulls this eye opening quote:
“When Defendant US Chess thought it had beaten Shahade into submission, it then attempted to rush her into a sham mediation by having its then-Interim Executive Director, a former lawyer for a Fortune 500 company, send Shahade to mediation without an attorney, with a jurist it handpicked and set up dates to have such sham mediation, in its own backyard, Missouri, in order to silence her (upon information also hoodwinking the proposed jurist by failing to reveal the full story),” the complaint said. “When Shahade finally obtained legal counsel, Defendants failed to honor its offer to mediate because it never had any intention of having a real mediation to make Shahade whole but instead attempted to further victimize her to get her to sign a non disparagement agreement and an NDA without real compensation for her claims against US Chess.”
US Chess has filed a motion to move the case to federal court and that is where the it stands for now. But, there is one big thing we all can do. The US Chess annual delegates meeting happens next week and they vote on policies that impact every member of US Chess. For example, the same policy that has allowed for an easy name and gender change for your humble writer was passed a few years ago at the delegates meeting. There is time to get a motion on the floor that could force the hand of the executive board to negotiate with Shahade. It might be a tough fight but please contact your state delegates to see what can be done. Please contact me or post a comment if you are interested in coordinating.
To close, I’ll leave you with the update provided by Shahade’s lawyers on Monday:
