World Chess Authority Bans Transgender Women From Women’s Tournaments: NPR

Visitors play chess at the Berlin World Chess Club on May 9. The German Chess Federation called the new international policies for transgender chess players discriminatory.

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Visitors play chess at the Berlin World Chess Club on May 9. The German Chess Federation called the new international policies for transgender chess players discriminatory.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

Rugby, swimming and track and field – Trans women have been banned from women’s international events in a growing number of sports. The last to make that list is chess.

The International Chess Federation, better known as FIDE, will effectively stop allowing transgender women to participate in women’s competitions until “further analysis” can take place – which could take up to two years.

The organization will also remove some of the titles won by players who won the women’s categories and later moved to the men’s. It will also remove some titles won by transgender men. The new policies are due to go into effect on Monday.

“FIDE recognizes that this is an evolving problem for chess and that, along with technical regulations on transgender regulations, further policies may need to be developed in the future in line with research evidence,” the federation wrote in an official journal. statement.

Over the past few days, many chess federations have opposed the new changes, including V.I we and Germany.

The German Chess Federation wrote on Friday in statement.

The new regulations about transgender players

Under new guidelines, transgender people will still be allowed to compete in the ‘open’ section of tournaments, where men and women would normally compete against each other.

But many elite events reserved exclusively for women will be off-limits to people who have changed their gender from male to female until “further analysis” by FIDE – which the group said could take two years.

FIDE also ruled that it had the right to make an “appropriate flag” for changing the gender in a player’s profile, as well as informing the leagues of any transgender competitors.

Titles for transgender men who won women’s events prior to the transition will be voided. The federation said that titles can be renewed if a player cancels their transfers and can “provide ownership of the FIDE ID that holds the title”. Revoked addresses can also be moved to a “general address of the same or lower level”.

Meanwhile, transgender women can keep any surnames they had before they transitioned.

FIDE reasons behind the changes

FIDE said it needed to put in place regulations on transgender players after receiving an influx of requests to change sex. It ultimately ruled that “a gender change is a change that has a significant impact on a player’s condition”.

This argument has been popular among international governing bodies that oversee sports of intense physical activity – which chess does not.

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The National Center for Gender Equality said the new guidelines “insult” all women and the game itself.

“It assumes that CIS women cannot compete against men in CIS countries – and it relies on ignorant anti-trans ideas,” the center says. books On X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

Similarly, chess stars around the world have spoken out against FIDE’s new policies, saying they will cause unnecessary harm to transgender competitors.

“The new regulations will make passing chess players all over the world face a terrible dilemma: move on or leave chess,” professional chess player Josha Iglesias books on X.