There's an effect on both sides.

Contrary to what people assume, aggressive chess is a good strategy.

Due to a lot of factors I don't really want to get into, most chess players think men are naturally better than women.

So a woman who thinks she's playing a man is immediately on the defense, and a man who thinks he's playing a woman starts out very aggressively.

Which means a man and woman of equal skill, the man will likely win.

It's called stereotype difference and it's not just chess related.

I don't know why people always pick chess because there's no physical difference while ignoring the mind games we even play on ourselves in those situations.

Just people completely ignorant of what they're talking about and grasping at straws to find something that agrees with them

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797620924051