The international governing body for chess has released new policies that prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s events and will strip some transgender players of their titles.
Under the new guidelines from the International Chess Federation — known by its French acronym, FIDE — individuals who transition from male to female have “no right” to compete in official events for women until “further analysis” is made, which could take up to two years. Additionally, if a player holds titles in women’s categories and transitions to male, “the women titles are to be abolished,” while if the player transitions from male to female, the titles will remain, the handbook says.
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FIDE also said it has the right to “inform the organizers and other relevant parties” about a player’s gender change, which it said was to prevent players “from possible illegitimate enrollments in tournaments.”
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Yosha Iglesias, a FIDE master and chess coach from France, expressed concern about the new regulations, writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the federation made it sound as if transgender players are “the biggest threat” to women in chess.
The Center for Trans Equality, in a statement posted on the X platform, said the new policy “relies on ignorant anti-trans ideas” and is “insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself.”
Asked to respond to these criticisms, FIDE wrote in an email, “Of course men and women are equally intellectually capable. However, in chess as a sport other factors like physical endurance may play a role.”
FIDE approved the policy at a meeting earlier this month, and it will go into effect next week. The new regulations “are aimed at clearly defining” the procedure for registering a gender change in the FIDE system, the organization said, adding that FIDE will monitor developments in “transgender legislation” around the world to “see how we can apply them to the world of chess.”
FIDE did not respond to a question about how the new policy will affect transgender players already registered in the system.
The fight for the future of transgender athletes
Global athletic bodies as well as conservative legislators across the United States have in recent years sought to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports competitions matching their gender identity, arguing that trans women have an unfair physical advantage over cisgender women. Advocates say such policies further marginalize and endanger transgender people and reflect long-standing efforts to “shut trans people out of public spaces.”
But “there’s not that physicality dimension to chess, it’s a game of strategy,” said Richard Pringle, a professor of sociology and education who studies gender and sexuality in the context of sport at Monash University in Australia.
“It suggests that males are somehow strategically better. … It’s not just transphobic, it’s anti-feminist too,” he said of the ban, adding that it was “likely a political decision rather than an issue of fairness.”
While women are increasingly taking to chess — possibly fueled by the wild success of the Netflix show “The Queen’s Gambit” — men are still disproportionately represented in the game. Only 14.6 percent of U.S. Chess members were women, according to 2019 data — a record at the time. In 2020, 37 of the more than 1,600 international chess grandmasters were women.
Most chess competitions are open to anyone. Both men and women can compete in the World Chess Championship and while there is a Women’s World Chess Championship, there is no male equivalent. The logic, according to an article in the Conversation, is that a “smaller base of females means fewer women than men at the top of the chess rating list,” and that separate championships create financial and publicity opportunities for female players.
Some prominent female players have spoken out against this separation.
FIDE’s new policy may only affect a small number of transgender players, but, like bans on transgender girls participating in school sports, could have a wider impact, Pringle said. Such policies are “telling trans people ‘You’re abnormal. You’re not wanted,’” he said.
Research shows that transgender people struggle with high rates of suicidality as well as anxiety and depression.
Such policies “exacerbate feelings of ‘I’m not accepted in this society,’” Pringle said, and for a transgender ban to be enacted in a nonphysical game such as chess “just shows [they are] spreading.”
Under the new guidelines from the International Chess Federation — known by its French acronym, FIDE — individuals who transition from male to female have “no right” to compete in official events for women until “further analysis” is made, which could take up to two years. Additionally, if a player holds titles in women’s categories and transitions to male, “the women titles are to be abolished,” while if the player transitions from male to female, the titles will remain, the handbook says.
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FIDE also said it has the right to “inform the organizers and other relevant parties” about a player’s gender change, which it said was to prevent players “from possible illegitimate enrollments in tournaments.”
ADVERTISING
Yosha Iglesias, a FIDE master and chess coach from France, expressed concern about the new regulations, writing on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the federation made it sound as if transgender players are “the biggest threat” to women in chess.
The Center for Trans Equality, in a statement posted on the X platform, said the new policy “relies on ignorant anti-trans ideas” and is “insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself.”
Asked to respond to these criticisms, FIDE wrote in an email, “Of course men and women are equally intellectually capable. However, in chess as a sport other factors like physical endurance may play a role.”
FIDE approved the policy at a meeting earlier this month, and it will go into effect next week. The new regulations “are aimed at clearly defining” the procedure for registering a gender change in the FIDE system, the organization said, adding that FIDE will monitor developments in “transgender legislation” around the world to “see how we can apply them to the world of chess.”
FIDE did not respond to a question about how the new policy will affect transgender players already registered in the system.
The fight for the future of transgender athletes
Global athletic bodies as well as conservative legislators across the United States have in recent years sought to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports competitions matching their gender identity, arguing that trans women have an unfair physical advantage over cisgender women. Advocates say such policies further marginalize and endanger transgender people and reflect long-standing efforts to “shut trans people out of public spaces.”
But “there’s not that physicality dimension to chess, it’s a game of strategy,” said Richard Pringle, a professor of sociology and education who studies gender and sexuality in the context of sport at Monash University in Australia.
“It suggests that males are somehow strategically better. … It’s not just transphobic, it’s anti-feminist too,” he said of the ban, adding that it was “likely a political decision rather than an issue of fairness.”
While women are increasingly taking to chess — possibly fueled by the wild success of the Netflix show “The Queen’s Gambit” — men are still disproportionately represented in the game. Only 14.6 percent of U.S. Chess members were women, according to 2019 data — a record at the time. In 2020, 37 of the more than 1,600 international chess grandmasters were women.
Most chess competitions are open to anyone. Both men and women can compete in the World Chess Championship and while there is a Women’s World Chess Championship, there is no male equivalent. The logic, according to an article in the Conversation, is that a “smaller base of females means fewer women than men at the top of the chess rating list,” and that separate championships create financial and publicity opportunities for female players.
Some prominent female players have spoken out against this separation.
FIDE’s new policy may only affect a small number of transgender players, but, like bans on transgender girls participating in school sports, could have a wider impact, Pringle said. Such policies are “telling trans people ‘You’re abnormal. You’re not wanted,’” he said.
Research shows that transgender people struggle with high rates of suicidality as well as anxiety and depression.
Such policies “exacerbate feelings of ‘I’m not accepted in this society,’” Pringle said, and for a transgender ban to be enacted in a nonphysical game such as chess “just shows [they are] spreading.”
