Trans women banned from top-level female chess events over fears they have an ‘unfair advantage’

Trans women are now banned from female-only competitive chess tournaments until further notice.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced that transgender women have no place in top-level female tournaments until ‘such a decision should be based on further analysis’, which could take up to two years.

The Times claims this ruling is being done over fears that trans women have an 'unfair advantage'.

The new guidelines also state that trans men will be stripped of their titles if they had acquired them pre-transition.

“The abolished women title may be transferred into a general title of the same or lower level,” regulators said.

Crispin la valiente/Getty Images

“If a player has changed the gender from a man into a woman, all the previous titles remain eligible. The player may use only the published rating at the time the registration was changed, and all subsequent ratings when applying for women titles.”

The new regulation, which will come into effect on August 21, left many in the chess community stunned.

Yosha Iglesias, a French chess coach who holds a FIDE Master title and identifies as a trans woman, slammed the new rule change in a series of tweets.

“Can someone tell me what qualifies as an official FIDE event?” she asked.

So FIDE just published (yesterday) a list of anti-trans regulations, like it was "the biggest threat of women in chess".

Can someone tell me what qualifies as an official FIDE event? Will I be allowed to play the French Championship in 3 days? The European Club Cup in September? pic.twitter.com/tGBbVhgnkY

— Yosha Iglesias (@IglesiasYosha) August 15, 2023

“Will I be allowed to play the French Championship in 3 days? The European Club Cup in September?”

Journalist Ana Valens also questioned the FIDE’s stance and said the organization is treating trans women as a 'threat to the integrity' of cisgender women playing chess.

She added that FIDE suggests that being assigned male at birth poses an unfair advantage for cis women, as they are considered less intelligent.

Cheers, FIDE.

“Why are trans women being banned from women’s chess? What’s the point? Are trans women innately better at chess? Are we too smart to play with cis women? I for one don’t think I am smarter than most cis women, nor do I think my pre-transition years gave me some sort of innate advantage at chess, so this shouldn’t be the case,” she wrote.

The new rules could also clash with FIDE’s Ethics and Disciplinary Code 2022, as it states in section 6.6 that it does not tolerate discrimination in chess based on ‘race, gender, ethnic origin, color, culture, religion, political opinion, marital status, sexual orientation or any unfair or other irrelevant factor, except as permitted by law.’

Hmmmm…very curious indeed.

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