12-year-old regional champion forced to quit Malaysian chess tournament due to 'seductive' dress

What's the story?

A regional chess champion from Kuala Lumpur was compelled to withdraw from a recent chess tournament held in Putrajaya, Malaysia after the chief arbiter informed her that she was violating the dress code of the tournament by wearing a ‘seductive’ dress.

Kaushal Khandhar, the coach, also argued that when the mother approached the tournament director, he said he didn’t know what had happened and later refused to answer or return any of their calls.

"This situation led to the inevitable decision of withdrawing from the tournament," he said.

The context

Malaysian chess player and coach Kaushal Khandhar posted the details of the incident at the National Scholastic Chess Championship 2017 on Facebook, along with a picture of the dress in question.

He stated that the tournament director and chief arbiter allegedly ‘harassed and humiliated’ his 12-year-old student that has left her feeling ‘extremely disturbed, and embarrassed’.

The heart of the matter

According to his post on Facebook, the chief arbiter interrupted her in the middle of Round 2, to tell her that her dress was improper. The girl and her mother were later informed that the tournament director thought of her dress to be a “temptation from a certain angle far, far away”.

They were given the choice to go to a mall nearby and buy appropriate clothing for the next round, which was to start at 9 am the following day. However, all the shops were closed by the time they were given the ultimatum, which left them with no choice but to pull out.

According to a PTI report, the girl’s mother stated that the dress code as prescribed by the World Chess Federation (Laws of Chess) called for a ‘dignified appearance’, without any specific guidelines.

What's next?

The coach has reached out to the chess community, urging them to call out on any such occurrences in the future and has demanded a public apology from the tournament director. He claims to resort to legal proceedings in absence of the demanded apology.

According to a Star Online report, the tournament director said an investigation is underway. However, he declined to comment further.

Author’s Take

This incident raises questions on various issues, ranging from unprofessional behaviour to whether the clothing was inappropriate in the first place to lack of clarity in terms of laws. No matter what this particular issue may be, such events end up deeply affecting the morale of emerging talents in the sports community and need to find a way out of this system.