Judit Polgár is widely recognized as the strongest female chess player in history, while Nona Gaprindashvili was the first woman ever awarded the open FIDE Grandmaster (GM) title in 1978
And teenager odhana Sivanandan - Youngest Woman Grandmaster of All Time!
Sure there are, but they aren't the world champions. They are never THE best. It's always men. Danika Patrick was a female race car driver with the dudes, but she never won. Like LittleLinda said, females are risk averse. That's why women don't make good CEO's when they are fantastically better than men at middle management.