International Chess Federation Bars Biological Men From Participating In Women's Events

Even non-physical contact sports are drawing a line in the sand as the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has changed its ruleset, barring biological men from competing in female-only chess events and competitions. 

The new guidelines came out on Monday from the Sweden-based organization, defining transgender as anyone “whose sense of gender does not match the gender assigned to them at birth and whose change of gender has been approved according to the national legal rules or upon FIDE decision in exceptional cases.” 

FIDE notes that a gender change will have a “significant impact on a player’s status and future eligibility to tournaments” and requires proper documentation to prove that the gender change was official. 

The organization then breaks down the restrictions that will be placed upon transgender biological men, saying that they will have “no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made.” The group states that the council will take another look at the data and provide another decision within two years. 

Titles also have their own unique ruleset, with biological females that transition to males having their titles “abolished,” but they can be renewed if they return to identifying as their proper biological sex. The female transitioning to a male is eligible to be transferred to a general title of the same or lower level. Biological men transitioning to females can keep their titles but cannot use any ratings from pre-gender change for female titles. 

Any ratings that a given player earns will remain the same even post-transition, but again, the titles associated with the rating can be subject to change based on what gender they are transitioning to. 

The decision intends to protect female chess spaces and encourage more female participation in the intellectual sport. While some may attempt to argue that chess is a genderless sport with no reason for competitive advantage awarded by gender, the space has ultimately been dominated by males for centuries with standards for women needing to be lowered. 

Allowing transgender individuals to participate in spaces created for women ultimately destroys the very reason they were made. If someone simply needs to get some government documentation that they’re changing gender, which really isn’t hard to get, they can easily invade the women’s space that has a lower barrier of entry. Doing so puts the integrity of female competition at risk and works to undermine the culture that has taken decades to create.

The new rules from FIDE are another reminder to transgender individuals that, despite what they wish to tell themselves, they are not the gender they identify as. They are simply a mentally ill individual twisted by modern science into a cruel mockery of what their perceived gender is meant to be and nothing can change that.