The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has ruled that transgender women cannot compete in its official women’s events until its officials carry out a gender change assessment.
“This decision must be based on a more detailed analysis and will be taken as soon as possible, within a period not exceeding two years,” published FIDE, an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday.
The move was quick to draw criticism from advocacy groups and supporters of transgender rights, as well as players and fans.
Many sports governing bodies have been working on policies regarding transgender athletes, but chess does not involve a comparable level of physical activity.
However, FIDE told the BBC that it wanted to analyze the impact of these policies and did not want to rush this process.
“Legislation is developing rapidly in many countries and many sports bodies are adopting their own policies,” he said.
“FIDE will follow these developments and see how we can apply them to the world of chess. Two years is a reasonable window of vision to fully analyze these developments.”
He added that transgender players could continue to compete in the open section of his tournaments.
Yosha Iglesias, a professional trans chess player with the rank of FIDE chess master, said the policy would cause “unnecessary harm” to trans players and women.
“This terrible situation will cause depression and suicide attempts,” Iglesias said.
International Grandmaster and two-time American champion Jennifer Shahade also criticized FIDE’s decision, stating that the policy is “ridiculous and dangerous”.
“It is obvious that they did not consult any transgender players when making it… I strongly urge FIDE to go back and start from scratch with better consultants,” Shahade said.
For her part, British MP Angela Eagle, co-winner of the British Under-18 Women’s Chess Championship in 1976, stated: “There is no physical advantage in chess, unless you believe that men are inherently more capable of playing than women; I spent my chess career hearing that women’s brains are smaller than men’s and we shouldn’t even play.”
“This ban is ridiculous and offensive to women,” she added.
In its decision, FIDE also said that if a player holds any female titles, but changed their gender to male, the female titles will be abolished.
Chess is classified as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Last month, world cycling’s governing body ruled that transgender women would be barred from competing in women’s events.
For its part, World Aquatics – the federation that regulates competitive swimming at the international level – announced Wednesday that a new open category for transgender athletes will be created at the Swimming World Cup to be held this year in Berlin, after the Last year, a vote was taken against transgender athletes competing in elite women’s events.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cjm8ldnyn0no, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-08-18 00:00:15
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