Check out the spot on top answer to this SE question about why there are separate tournaments for men and women in chess: http://chess.stackexchange.com/questio

Check out the spot on top answer to this SE question about why there are separate tournaments for men and women in chess: http://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/6282/why-are-there-separate-tournaments-for-men-and-women http://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/6282/why-are-there-.... The gist is: At novice level women-only events are very useful, at expert level they tend to be constricting.