Women turned to card games – except in Russia, which was the last nation to accept the new, powerful queen. Russia turned to European chess under Catherine the great. There you go – an interesting dialectical interplay between the strengthening of a female ruling class figure on the chess board and the real disenfranchisement of female involvement in the game.
kino fist über die modernen Schachregeln und die Geschlechterfrage (via close your eyes)