Effective starting Aug. 21, transgender women can no longer participate in women’s brackets for chess tournaments. Additionally, any former title earned by someone who partook in the women’s bracket but later transitioned to male will be definitively abolished. However, there is no explicit rule that erases the title of anyone who partook in the men’s bracket and later transitioned to female.

Ever since the International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced the aforementioned decision on Aug. 14, the new rule has been subject to a great deal of controversy. The National Center for Trans Equality said it was “insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself.” On the flip side, Debbie Hayton, transgender British secondary school science teacher and political activist, who has supported laws which aim to define womens-only spaces as being based on sex rather than gender identity, said she supported the ruling because it was “possible that evolution has left men with an innate advantage in chess”. For its part, The Internet is having a field day with the new policy, and it seems to have offended transgender people everywhere.

To be clear, the rule is completely and utterly nonsensical. According to NPR, FIDE’s reasoning behind the change was that “change of gender is a change that has a significant impact on a player’s status.” Even if that was the case, then why are the rules for men’s and women’s brackets different? Why do transgender men have to deal with their titles being abolished, while trans women don’t have to abide by the same rules? This component of the policy feels sexist and hypocrital, and there’s no obvious reasoning behind the unequal ban. Again: completely and utterly nonsensical.

Maybe FIDE’s ruling would make logical sense if chess was a physical sport (even though I still wouldn’t like the execution). People born male are just more physically capable than those born female. Take it up with genetics. But there’s literally no reason to believe that either men or women are better at chess. Neurosciencenews.com says men and women don’t differ in IQ. The top chess players in the world are overwhelmingly male, sure, but only 15% of licensed chess players in the world are female. Just because fewer women play doesn’t mean women are naturally worse at the sport. FIDE’s ruling seemingly draws on outdated sexist ideals, and there isn’t any real research to back it up–at least that I’ve been made aware of.

The ruling doesn’t make sense, both in theory and execution. But even if it did, it would still hurt people. I can’t speak on behalf of the transgender community, but taking yet another privilege away from an already oppressed minority is objectively awful. Trans people deserve to exist without having their rights stripped away again and again, and while FIDE’s ruling doesn’t affect as many people as other policies like the nickname law, it still discriminates against transgender people without a single discernible reason. 

In conclusion, the rule passed by the International Chess Federation is illogical, ignorant and simply unkind to trans chess players everywhere. FIDE plans to let the ruling stand until “further analysis” is made, which can take up to two years. But considering the reaction of prolific journalists, chess players and transgender people alike, FIDE should withdraw the ruling immediately, as it seems to be causing far more harm than good. 

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Evelyn Foster at [email protected].