Transgender women banned from women's chess events

But they can still be easily cleared by “effectively anyone” who wants to, even if they’re not transgender. So that’s still not high enough to serve the purpose.

How do you know that? If there is any purpose here, it would be (at the very least) to stop an opportunist from saying "I am transgender" at the door and wrongly playing against women (i.e. that "effectively anyone" can say they are transgender).

With a GRC you don't have that. It is far harder for an opportunist to "fake" being transgender.

Some people will go to any lengths if money is concerned, but I really can’t imagine that anyone would go through the steps of declaring themselves transgender with all that this implies, just for a chess competition. ( No insult to the game here, but the income levels of female chess players unless I’m wrong, don’t generally run into millions)

Exactly. It's one thing having opportunists claim to be transgender to make a quick win, but another to say that they would go through the entire effort of getting a GRC (and being legally bound to it) just to win at chess.

Except its women competing against women here not men competing against other women (in terms of gender and not sex), both parties identify as woman to the point where as far as we know one does not have a biological advantage over the other in the sport.

Shallowvale has givens some examples on how this could be achieved or we could simply act in good faith and assume that most (not all obviously) transwomen aren't faking it i.e they are actually transgender and aren't simply trying to identify as female in order to get into women's spaces/sports.

I doubt that people would be so desperate to change their gender to be able to dominate in a sport like chess but then again it's 2023 so I guess that anything is possible these days. Seems like a far-fetched thing to do for such a sport (no offence to people who regularly play chess).

How do you know that? If there is any purpose here, it would be (at the very least) to stop an opportunist from saying "I am transgender" at the door and wrongly playing against women (i.e. that "effectively anyone" can say they are transgender).

With a GRC you don't have that. It is far harder for an opportunist to "fake" being transgender.

Well instead of saying it "at the door", they can just say it at the point of applying for the GRC. It doesn't stop them from being able to enter women's tournaments, it just makes them wait a bit longer to be able to do so. There's no reason why a non-transgender person can't do that.

FIDE can avoid all this ambiguity by just basing the eligibility criteria on something objective (like biological sex) rather than something entirely subjective and self-certified (like gender identity). What's the problem with that?

My argument is however conditional on the fact that they have no advantage generated by their biological sex, and in this case I really can’t see how they would.

But that makes a huge difference, since not everyone either has a GRC or would want to go through the effort and legal obligations of getting one. The requirements to fake an identity are much higher than if people just took their word for it at the door.

But for the person who actually wants to fake a transgender identity to enter the tournament, the requirements are still easily met. The hurdle is literally just signing a piece of paper. You're still having to take their word for it, just a bit earlier rather than later. Hardly a huge difference.

Why can't FIDE just base the eligibility criteria on biological sex rather than gender identity, and pretty much avoid having to worry about any of this?

I'm all for keeping transsexuals out of the womens categories in physical sports, for reasons that need not be rehashed here, but why they should be banned (temporarily or otherwise) from chess of all things is beyond me. At best, it says little more than there is a difference in intellect between the sexes.. hardly a good look for the chess body.

I'm all for keeping transsexuals out of the womens categories in physical sports, for reasons that need not be rehashed here, but why they should be banned (temporarily or otherwise) from chess of all things is beyond me. At best, it says little more than there is a difference in intellect between the sexes.. hardly a good look for the chess body.

Yes, true. I don't think trans women have any obvious biological advantage over women in chess, as they would in other sports. In principle I don't think there's anything wrong with a trans woman being in a women's tournament. The only problem I see is that if the eligibility criteria for entry to the tournament are based on something entirely subjective (like gender identity over biological sex) they become unenforceable.


There isn't really any way this could be achieved, because there's no way to tell if someone is trans other than by ultimately taking their word for it. You could assume that everyone will act in good faith and with good sportsmanship by only they're trans if they really are, but then ew're taking a risk. There are always people who will bend rules or outright cheat to get ahead, especially where money, fame and careers are involved.

I would say, what's the need to get into these realms of ambiguity when it's easy enough to just say "these tournaments are for women - by which we mean biological women". I don't really see the problem with this.

They are not as easily met as just saying "I am transgender" to someone organising a chess tournament; it's naturally harder to change your identity for three months (albeit fraudulently), provide proof of that identity and then get a GRC. You'd also be legally bound to live by that gender for the rest of your life, a decision that opportunists might not want to take.

These are all undoubtably hurdles that would make it harder for people to fake being transgender.

They don't make it "harder", they just make it slightly less convenient. Anyone who wants to do these things still can, easily.

Why can't FIDE just base the eligibility criteria on biological sex rather than gender identity, and pretty much avoid having to worry about any of this?

Why can’t everyone just play together whilst encouraging girls at grass routes level to enter the game. It’s what’s being done for women in the work force and politics in most countries and has born its fruit. The same will eventually happen for chess.

They still don't make it hard enough, because anyone who wants to clear these hurdles still can.

You know what's actually harder than faking a trans identity? Faking a biological sex. So why can't FIDE just base the eligibility criteria on biological sex rather than gender identity, and pretty much avoid having to worry about any of this?

They can, I have no issue with that.
My view is simply that if a women's category exists, then it makes more sense for that to be based on a biological definition of "women" rather than gender identity. Just because it's more objective and less open to abuse.

Besides the point. To claim that allowimg transwomen into womens chess allows "effectively anyone" into womens chess is wrong. Restrictions such as requiring GRCs immediately make it harder for opportunists to gain access. There will be people out there who either cannot aquire a GRC or wouldn't want to.

Agreed, but I just don’t think that the question being debated is really an issue. There is no biological advantage for a trans in the events and the number of trans participating is probably negligible. As the prizes are bigger in the male events they have a vested interest in remaining in the male event if they are any good. The idea that someone might cheat to gain entry into a female event is only valid if they believe that they will never progress or be ranked highly enough in the male rankings to earn a living. The day that you tell yourself that intellectually you are incapable of improving your game is the day you stop playing not the day you decide to declare yourself trans.