A twelve-year-old girl was barred from a chess tournament after the director said her dress was 'too seductive'.
Posting his utter disbelief at the situation on Facebook, the child's chess coach, World Chess Federation member Kaushal Kandhar said the incident occurred at the National Scholastic Chess Championship 2017 on April 14 in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
The girl, who is chess champion of her school district in Kuala Lumpur, was wearing a striped, knee-length children's t-shirt dress. Her mother was ordered to go to a nearby shopping mall and purchase a pair of trousers for her daughter wear if she wanted to compete in the following day's tournament.
The shops were closed on the day and, when the child's mother called the chief arbiter to explain, her call wasn't returned.
According to Kandhar, the comment was made by the chief arbiter in the middle of a chess match, without stopping the clocks.
‘The tournament director deemed my student’s dress to be “seductive” and a “temptation from a certain angle far, far away”,’ Kaushal wrote. ‘We found this statement completely out of line!’
The chess coach said the incident had left his student 'extremely disturbed and embarrassed'.
"I have been playing chess in Malaysia for almost two decades and I have never heard of this type of issue ever in any tournaments in Malaysia," he wrote.
Mr Kandhar is demanding an unreserved apology from the tournament directors before launching legal proceedings.
