World chess bans biological males from competing in women’s events — some trans players to be stripped of titles

The world’s top chess federation announced on Monday that it would not allow biological males to compete in women’s events, and some transgender-identifying players will be stripped of their titles, the Washington Post reported.

The International Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE, acts as a governing body for chess competitions worldwide.

On Monday, the Switzerland-based federation released new policies declaring that biological males have “no right” to participate in women’s chess events.

“The following restrictions shall be applied to a player after the change of the gender in FIDE ID,” the policy stated, referring to the number identification assigned to players. “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. Such decision should be based on further analysis and shall be taken by the FIDE Council at the earliest possible time, but not longer than within 2 (two) years period.”

FIDE’s updated transgender regulations noted that the rules only apply to women’s events and that transgender-identifying players would still compete in other competitions. Most chess tournaments are open to both male and female players, including the World Chess Championship. There is no male equivalent of the Women’s World Chess Championship. However, only 37 of over 1,600 international chess grandmasters in 2020 were women.

The new regulations further state that players who hold titles from women’s events but later identify as male will have their titles abolished.

“Those can be renewed if the person changes the gender back to a woman and can prove the ownership of the respective FIDE ID that holds the title. The abolished women title may be transferred into a general title of the same or lower level,” the policy continued. “If a player has changed the gender from a man into a woman, all the previous titles remain eligible.”

FIDE stated that it will not publicly share the “gender change” of its players, but it does have “the right to inform the organizers and other relevant parties.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality spoke out against the policy changes on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Really? Chess?” the nonprofit wrote. “This is so insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself. It assumes that cis women couldn’t be competitive against cis men - and relies on ignorant anti-trans ideas.”

The transgender regulations are set to go into effect next week.

FIDE did not respond to a request for comment, the Post reported.

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