According to an Opinion piece written by Shohreh herself and published by The Washington Post in February 2020, she defected from Iran and found asylum in Britain.
*Being the Chief Arbiter at the 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship match is comparable to being the head referee at the NFL’s Super Bowl in the USA!
After some time in Great Britain, Shohreh embraced her family’s Jewish heritage that had been repressed her entire life in Iran.
“It was wonderful. It was something I never had an opportunity to do,” said Ms. Bayat from her temporary home outside London, describing her excitement as she sat for the Rosh Hashanah dinner of apple, honey and challah.
In Shanghai, China, at the beginning of Round 3 of the 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship, Shohreh was photographed leaning over the chess table, where she appeared not to be wearing a hijab.
“The accusation was that I deliberately had no head covering in order to protest against the hijab,” Shohreh wrote in an email. “I was shocked and panicked.”
“I believe people must be free to choose what they want to wear,” Shohreh said in the email. “I have never worn the hijab out of choice.”
SOLVE A PUZZLE & WIN!
Solve a chess puzzle, enter the weekly drawing as often as you like, and win awesome prizes! Winners’ prizes are listed below. If you don’t win this week, try again next week! New puzzles are posted daily!
CHESS PUZZLES WEEKLY PRIZES
Below are the weekly prizes we send out! If you don’t win, try again the following week for your chance to win! Click on the prize to learn more about it.
Checkmate In One Prize
Chess Rules For Students Workbook
An instructional workbook designed for students learning the game of chess. Click here to learn more!
Checkmate In Two Prize
Checkmate! Ideas For Students
An instructional workbook containing tactics in worksheet format used to checkmate--like Pins, Sacrifices, Removing the Guard, Attraction, Clearance, and Attacking Flight Squares!