FIDE, the international governing body for the sport, provided new guidelines to address transgender chess players and how it would handle titles such as Woman Grandmaster, Woman International Master, Woman FIDE Master, and Woman Candidate Master amid transgender players, Mediaite reported.

“In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made,” the rule read. “Such decision should be based on further analysis and shall be taken by the FIDE Council at the earliest possible time, but not longer than within 2 (two) years period.” …

Women are not barred from competing in the men’s events, however, because there is no lack of male competitors, while the women’s events are intended to encourage more women to participate, the outlet noted.

[That seems to be the biggest factor in this decision, and rightfully so. It may seem strange that chess has separate categories for the sexes, but my friend Adam Baldwin says that chess has almost a sport-level intensity where stamina matters. It’s still the right decision, especially in competition where women already seem reluctant to compete against other women, let alone men. — Ed]