Transgender women banned from women's chess events

Prize money is always linked to the commercial value of a sporting event and the revenues it generates. On the whole male sports command greater audiences and therefore generate greater advertising revenues whether it be football, rugby or even chess. Hence the difference in prize money and salaries of professional sports players.

What sort of restrictions do you have in mind?

Because the top chess players are (for whatever reason) mostly men. Obviously a tournament will become less competitive if all those men are excluded from it. It's easier to have to beat Hou Yifan to win the tournament than it is to have to beat Magnus Carlsen.

Because a person can make more money by winning prizes in both the open and the women's tournaments (as opposed to just the open ones).

I haven't found anything significant till date. Chess is a game of memory and intelligence; these traits are not restricted to males only. This new ruling makes no sense.

I agree with that. I just said that I didn't like it.

One restriction could be to provide documentation showing that you have become transitioning, e.g. a GRC or an amended drivers license.

Alternatively, there could be a system where players who do not genuinely live by their gender could be called into question. For example if someone claims to be a transwomen but lives their life otherwise (outside of chess) then that would be grounds to withdraw access.

Indeed. It's like how Miss Italy has banned transwomen from competitions. I guess, biologically, men have an advantage over women in being... beautiful looking women? 😂

And what, in your view, should a person need to do to get those things, other than just declaring themselves to be trans?

How exactly do you define "living life as a man" or "living life as a woman"?

Indeed. It's like how Miss Italy has banned transwomen from competitions. I guess, biologically, men have an advantage over women in being... beautiful looking women? 😂

I can't speak for the first - have they ever played a match together? I can't recall. I do however remember a blitz game between Magnus Carlsen and Judit Polgar somewhere in 2022 (it was either before or during Candidates 2022) where she blew him off the board in jst 19 moves, so it's not a lost case.

What do people need to do? Depends on the document. GRCs, for example, currently have several large hurdles to jump through. I think those hurdles should be eased.

Living their life as a man / woman could mean referring to themselves as a man / woman, referring to themselves as transgender

changing their name, changing how they present themselves, etc.

So what, specifically, do you think the hurdles should be, such that they are easy for real trans people to get but not fake trans people?

That doesn't sound particularly difficult for a person to fake being trans, if all they have to do is publicly say that they're trans from time to time.

But then you'd surely be discriminating against any trans people who decided not to change their name, or the way they dress etc.

The proposals made by the GRR bill are a good start, I think.

I don't think so. It's harder to fake being trans and maintain that identity than to simply say "I am transgender" and be done with it.

They were examples of what someone could do, not what they would have to do.

Which is what? Just sign a piece of paper that you've been living life as your acquired gender? What's difficult to fake about that? And again it comes down to, how exactly do you define "living life as a man / woman"?

Well that depends how rigorously you're able to check whether they're "maintaining that identity" or not. How many times do I need to publicly declare "I am transgender" or "I am a woman" to be believed? What if I'm genderfluid and only sometimes identify as a woman?

Well then, what would they have to do?

I can't speak for the first - have they ever played a match together? I can't recall. I do however remember a blitz game between Magnus Carlsen and Judit Polgar somewhere in 2022 (it was either before or during Candidates 2022) where she blew him off the board in jst 19 moves, so it's not a lost case.

I guess. But again, I can't recall this ever being done - everything that comes to mind was done by a man, in a male event.

One restriction could be to provide documentation showing that you have become transitioning, e.g. a GRC or an amended drivers license.

Alternatively, there could be a system where players who do not genuinely live by their gender could be called into question. For example if someone claims to be a transwomen but lives their life otherwise (outside of chess) then that would be grounds to withdraw access.

I genuinely couldn't tell you at this point To bring it back to the original topic of this thread, I still find this ruling absurd. Having established that there is no significant gap in intelligence or memory between men and women, I don't see why transwomen in particular are being excluded.

I suppose FIDE will use the angle that it's meant to prevent men entering women's tournaments and cheating there, but all notable cheating incidents have been done by men (give me some time and I'll pull up the names and matches), so I again fail to see how this policy is meant to be 'helping'.

The GRR requires proof that you have lived aa your gender for 3-6 months and a declaration that you would continue to live as that gender for the rest of your life. It also introduces penalties for fake applications. It's not exactly straightforward to fake that.

I need not give ultra specific answers to the exact ins and outs of how these restrictions could work in practice. The point is that options are available to help make sure that "fake" transwomen do not take part in women's chess. It isn't something that would have to be taken 'at face value', if you will.

If someone with epertise in chess knows how transwomen and ciswomen playing together is a problem (as in how it makes the sport unfair like it does for the other sports where they've been banned) then I'm all ears.

How is that not straightforward to fake, if all I have to do is sign a piece of paper saying I've lived as my acquired gender, and intend do so so permanently? Even if I'm lying, how is anyone ever going to prove that without being able to read my mind?


Well then you haven't actually demonstrated that any such options really are available, that would reliably distinguish between a "real" trans person and a "fake" one. The criteria you've mentioned are all either easy to fake (e.g. just saying I'm trans enough times), or aren't relevant to all trans people and would incorrectly flag some real ones as being fake (e.g. changing my name / dress).