Not Only a Question of Faith

Argentine Woman Grandmaster María Carolina Luján gave an enlightening interview to Soledad Vallejos for Pagina12 of January 14, 2017 in which she explains her reasons for refusing to take part in the next Knockout Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament to be held in in Tehran, Iran from 10 February to 5 March 2017. She also prefers to point the issue of the mandatory Iranian dress code rather than the politically more significant instance of gender discrimination blatantly represented by the inequality of men’s and women’s World Chess Championship systems. As you should know, the knockout format is a sort of “Wild Bunch” which designates the new “World Champion” on basis of cabalistic criteria related to the guidelines of Voldemort’s Black Book if not to be negotiated by parties. Whatever it is, María Carolina doesn’t reduce everything to just “wearing the hijab”. She would have liked to know something more about Iran’s culture and its theocratic governance, but apparently the World Chess Federation didn’t answer to any of her questions, and she had to pay a visit to the Iran Embassy in Argentina for getting some information. “My family was worried, too. I think all this could have been solved otherwise, for instance by giving information”, she said. “I mean, more information about the country, its culture, the rigorous application of the law. Or if FIDE had given us guarantees of assistance and protection. But nothing. It was very like ‘It’s here. If you don’t like, you don’t play’. That was the message I perceived and I decided to renounce. Maybe my decision would have been different if the dealing had been different”, Luján said.

María Carolina Luján. Photo: Sandra Cartasso.