Chess player Divya Deshmukh from India has accused the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands, of being subjected to misogynistic behavior by onlookers who "focused on irrelevant things like her hair, clothes, and accent."

The 18-year-old Nagpur International Master, who took home the Asian women's chess championship last year, wrote a lengthy social media post detailing her bad experience in Wijk Aan Zee and criticizing the chauvinism that female players frequently encounter.

I was waiting for my tournament to end before I addressed this, but I've been wanting to for a while. I've observed and been informed that women in chess are frequently ignored by onlookers, Deshmukh added.

 felt it was unfair in a way because if f go to any guy’s interview there would be way less judgement on a personal leve in actual compliments about the game ar the player,” she asserted.

Despite the progress made in women’s sports in terms of pay scale, female athletes are still subjected to sexist behaviour and are often asked about their outfits.