World’s top chess federation bans transgender women from female events

In a widely criticised decision, the world’s top chess federation has barred transgender women from competing in its official events for females until a review of the situation is done by officials. 

Publishing the decision on Monday, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said that “change of gender is a change that has a significant impact on a player’s status and future eligibility to tournaments.”

FIDE said participation of transgender women would depend on an analysis of individual cases that could take up to two years, adding that transgender players could still compete in the open section of its tournaments.

“In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made,” said the federation. 

Players’ titles will also be affected by this decision, with FIDE saying that holders of women’s titles who change their genders to male would have the title’s they’ve previously earned “abolished”. FIDE said there would be a possibility of reinstatement only “if the person changes the gender back to a woman”.

Conversely, if a player has changed their gender from a man to a woman, FIDE said “all the previous titles remain eligible”. 

Widespread criticism

Transgender rights activists and advocacy groups have spoken out against the ban, calling it “ridiculous” and warning of its danger to the wellbeing and rights of trans players and women. 

While many sports governing bodies have been contemplating policies for transgender athletes, chess doesn’t involve similar levels of physical activity, despite being classified as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

“It’s obvious they didn’t consult with any transgender players in constructing it,” said 2x US Women’s chess champion Jennifer Shahade on FIDE’s recent decision. 

“It’s also sinister timing that this comes out just as chess is finally reckoning with sexual assault and harassment in chess highlighting the links between misogyny and transphobia.”

“I strongly urge FIDE to reverse course on this and start from scratch with better consultants.”

“There is no physical advantage in chess unless you believe men are inherently more able to play than women,” commented UK MP Angela Eagle to the BBC. Eagle was a joint winner of the 1976 British Girls’ Under-18 chess championship.

“This ban is ridiculous and offensive to women,” she said. 

Chris Mosier, a pro athlete with Nike and transgender man, said he sees a lot of sports policies struggle with inclusion but that FIDE’s decision took him by surprise. 

“The idea that anyone assigned male at birth will automatically be a better CHESS PLAYER than one assigned female at birth negates the potential & accomplishments of ALL women,” wrote Mosier on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Sexual harassment

Chess is already a male-dominated sport as well, and American activist Charlotte Clymer explains that this is due to a history of marginalising women and girls. 

“It wasn’t until the past few decades that sexism in the culture of competitive chess was confronted, and even now, problems persist. One of those problems is sexual harassment and assault,” wrote Clymer in a comprehensive thread on the social platform X.

“This year, prominent U.S. grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez was finally investigated after he was accused of assaulting more than half a dozen women and girls, with incidents going back to 2016.”

“Again and again, the message to women and girls in chess has been they are not as welcome as their male colleagues and do not deserve equal support,” said Clymer.