The great teacher Alejandro Tadeo Ramírez, an American chess player of Costa Rican origin with a high media profile, was accused of sexually abusing at least eight women who denounced it publicly.
Jennifer Shahade, a two-time United States champion and who also holds the title of grandmaster, alerted the United States Chess Federation and a St. Louis club in 2020 about Ramírez’s abuses (34)although only after three years did he have answers for a tweet that went viral and prompted other women to report it.
“It’s time,” Shahade headlines the tweet where he wrote: “There are currently multiple ongoing investigations into Alejandro Ramírez and his sexual misconduct, including a series of alleged incidents involving minors.. I was abused by him on two occasions, nine and ten years ago. I kept going until a couple of years ago, when multiple women, who didn’t know each other and who weren’t aware of my experience, reached out to me with their stories of alleged abuse.“.
Besides, The chess player assured that some minors told her about Ramírez’s abuse and that she even saw “alarming” evidence in some texts where abuse of students was admitted and there was talk of “tempting” minors.
Even though the Federation already had information about the two-time champion’s complaint, Ramírez was appointed coach of the United States women’s team for the Olympiad in Chennai (India) in August 2022.
According to an investigation by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, there are at least eight women who confirmed the abuses committed by Ramírez, three of them were minors at the time of the events.
One of the victims claimed that he forced her to drink vodka and then perform oral sex on her, and the others testify that the man was physically aggressive while forcibly kissing and groping them without consent.tells the newspaper report.
In addition to Shahade, Claire Grothe – who worked as a manager at the Chess Hall of Fame program, located around the corner from the St. Louis Club – denounced Ramírez under his name.and the other young women spoke anonymously.
Grothe recounted that he met Ramírez in 2014 at a celebration held at the Chess Club and that he continued in an Italian bar in the area.. “He He took me by the arm and put me in the bathroom, pushed me against a wall, kissed me forcibly and put his hand through the neck of my dress to touch my chest; I managed to push it and I left“, he told the newspaper.
Due to the wave of complaints, Ramirez resigned from the St. Louis club. “It is clear that investigations into allegations of inappropriate behavior have proven to be a negative distraction for the club.; Despite my cooperation with the investigation I recognize that my membership of the club is not the best at present,” he said in a statement. The grandmaster also had his St. Louis varsity coaching permit revoked.
For his part, Ramírez’s attorney, Albert Watkins, stated that “superimposing today’s customs on erroneous accounts of acts of yesteryear is a recipe for disaster.” for both the accused and the accuser. I must respect the confidentiality of research tasks.”
While the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which remains without comment on what happened, removed Ramírez from the position of member of the Athletes Commission Of the entity.