Chess World Bans Trans Women in Mind-Boggling New Policy

The regulatory organization that governs international chess competition announced this week that transgender women would effectively be banned from playing in women’s events until further notice.

In an updated version of its handbook, the International Chess Federation (known by its French acronym FIDE) said that players who transition “from a male to a female” have “no right” to play in official events “until further FIDE’s [sic] decision is made.” Any future decision will be based on what the organization vaguely called “further analysis” in a process that could take up to two years.

No justification was offered for the decision, which was first reported Wednesday by The Times of London.

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

“Can someone tell me what qualifies as an official FIDE event?” she asked. “Will I be allowed to play the French Championship in 3 days? The European Club Cup in September?”

Ana Valens, a trans writer for The Mary Sue, also challenged the news in an op-ed titled “Oh Great, Now I Can’t Play Chess Because I’m Trans.”

“This raises many questions,” Valens wrote. “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. Yet FIDE is treating trans women as some sort of threat to the integrity of cisgender women playing chess.”

The new guidelines in FIDE’s handbook also address other potential issues to do with transgender players, often in stumbling and contradictory terms.

One rule mandates that any trans men who, pre-transition, earned titles in a women’s tournament be stripped of those accomplishments, though the “abolished women title may be transferred into a general title of the same or lower level.” On the other hand, if a trans woman has won a men’s title, she will be allowed to keep that title in full.

Another states that FIDE maintains the right to inform event organizers if a player was “a transgender,” allowing for the possibility that transgender players could be outed without their consent. (The usage of the word “transgender” as a noun rather than an adjective is discouraged by the LGBTQ+ community and groups like GLAAD.)

The handbook also says that FIDE will only recognize a player’s gender identity that is “consistent with the identity they maintain in their non chess life AND that has been confirmed by national authorities based on a due legal and formal process of change.”

And if a player wants to change their gender on their official FIDE ID, also known as a FIN, they must first battle through what appears to be a hellscape of bureaucratic red tape. “As a rule,” the handbook sniffs, “change of the gender is not a reason for a person to get a new FIN, unless there is a special, strictly exceptional reason for the person not to publicly reveal their previous identity.”

However, it goes on to say, if a player pushes for their gender to be changed in the organization’s database, they must provide “relevant proof of the change” to an official known as a national rating officer. The handbook provides a laundry list of examples of said “proof,” including birth certificates, passports, and legal documents.

“Changing one’s legal documentation is a difficult and near-impossible process in some areas,” Valens noted in her op-ed, “including various U.S. red states, meaning FIDE’s new regulations put some trans players in an impossible dilemma.”

In a note at the top of the handbook’s section on transgender players, FIDE allowed that “this is an evolving issue for chess,” leaving the door open for further policy tweaks in the future “in line with research evidence.”

The new rules will go into effect on August 21.

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The move marks the latest spasm of what critics have called transphobic panic in international sports. In March, World Athletics banned transgender women who had gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events. The organization said its new rules prioritized “fairness and the integrity of the female competition.”

In June, the International Rugby League prohibited trans athletes from competing in sanctioned women’s matches, arguing that there was “a requirement and responsibility to further consult and complete additional research” before the ban could be lifted.

Last month, both Union Cycliste Internationale and World Aquatics joined the fracas. UCI said that women who had “transitioned after [male] puberty” would no longer be allowed to compete in women’s events to “ensure equal opportunities.” World Aquatics took a similar tack, but also announced that it planned to establish an “open” category for all athletes, regardless of their gender identity.

While FIDE is conducting “further analysis,” it says in the handbook, transgender players will be allowed to compete in a similar “open section.”

Valens scorned the concession in her op-ed, writing, “It’s like kicking dirt in my face and offering me a hand up afterwards!”

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