Are men better chess players than women ?

Currently, there is only 1 woman among the top 100 chess players; and only 8 women among 900 grandmasters. Are men better at playing chess? In a recent study, researchers concluded that the underrepresentation of women in the highest levels of chess can be explained by the low proportion of girls who enter chess at the lowest levels. The researchers looked at the ratings of over 250,000 players over 13 years and found that while men have higher ratings than women on average, in areas where women account for at least 50% of new young players, the initial ratings of boys and girls are not significantly different. Check and mate!