“Time’s up” for Alejandro Ramirez
Chess Woman Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade has publicly accused Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez of “sexual misconduct.”
In a Twitter note posted on Wednesday afternoon, Shahade wrote that Ramirez assaulted her twice and that she had seen “alarming evidence” of further sexual misconduct by the 34-year-old GM. The note was captioned with the line “Time’s up.”
According to Shahade’s note, Ramirez assaulted her “9 and 10 years ago.” She had subsequently “moved on” from Ramirez’s actions until further allegations came to light. Shahade described “multiple women, independent of each other and with no knowledge of [Shahade’s] own experience” approaching her “with their own stories of alleged abuse.”
texts to one victim that accused her of being “an underage temptress”
These allegations include abuse of a minor and sending texts to one victim that accused her of being “an underage temptress.”
A growing list of accusers
In the first 24 hours since Shahade posted her note to Twitter, she said another seven women have contacted her with reports of Ramirez’s misconduct. Four of the accusations come from first-hand accounts.
It does not appear that law enforcement is involved at this time. The St. Louis Chess Club and US Chess, though, received formal complaints against Ramirez in the fall of 2022 and are conducting internal reviews. Both institutions have declined to comment until those reviews are complete.
In a statement to Chess.com, Ramirez claimed that he is “fully cooperating” with the investigations.
Shahade continues to fight for women in chess
Shahade and Ramirez have worked alongside each other as chess commentators in the past. The pair manned the commentary booth at several events held by the St. Louis Chess Club.
Shahade has stepped away from commentating while the investigations are ongoing, but has not abandoned her activism. Throughout the chess and poker world, Shahade is known as a writer, player, and above all an advocate for women on both board and baize.
Poker and chess are both notorious boy’s clubs and Shahade has played a significant part in the movement to open these games up to more people.
the safety of women, girls, children is of the highest priority”
However, as she emphasizes in her statement about Ramirez: “….a lot of the work to make chess more inclusive is futile if we cannot make crystal clear that the safety of women, girls, children is of the highest priority.”
The way in which the chess world handles this matter will send a message, one way or the other, as to how high that priority really is.