It’s not that they’re strictly segregated. There are no tournaments women cannot play in or titles women cannot earn. But there are tournaments only women can play in and only women can earn.
So a woman can be a grandmaster and a woman’s grandmaster, but a man can only be a grandmaster. It’s meant as a way of addressing the gender imbalance in chess. It’s a system that has allowed a lot of women who would not otherwise be able to to hold titles, win prize money and make a career out of competitive chess but some women, especially the really strong ones who are able to compete at the highest level and hold the general titles do feel they’re condescending, the requirements are lower so a woman’s master title is less prestigious than a plain master title, and that they reinforce structural sexism and encourage young woman prodigies and the people training and supporting them to aim lower and limit their ambitions. Judith Polgar, possibly the strongest woman ever to play the game, thinks they should be abolished. But obviously a lot of women players who are making a living and take pride in playing almost exclusively women’s tournaments disagree. It’s a hotly debated topic.
“you see, if you go through testosterone puberty you will get a certain bone density that gives you an unfair advantage in remembering how the little horses and castles move”
Some federations are better. The USCF has made an attempt not to be transphobic. Players registered with them can submit and change their own gender identification. The Norwegian Chess federation is also cool and has been lobbying lobbying FIDE to stop being shitlords. Federations also have their own title systems and some have women’s titles.
It’s not that they’re strictly segregated. There are no tournaments women cannot play in or titles women cannot earn. But there are tournaments only women can play in and only women can earn.
So a woman can be a grandmaster and a woman’s grandmaster, but a man can only be a grandmaster. It’s meant as a way of addressing the gender imbalance in chess. It’s a system that has allowed a lot of women who would not otherwise be able to to hold titles, win prize money and make a career out of competitive chess but some women, especially the really strong ones who are able to compete at the highest level and hold the general titles do feel they’re condescending, the requirements are lower so a woman’s master title is less prestigious than a plain master title, and that they reinforce structural sexism and encourage young woman prodigies and the people training and supporting them to aim lower and limit their ambitions. Judith Polgar, possibly the strongest woman ever to play the game, thinks they should be abolished. But obviously a lot of women players who are making a living and take pride in playing almost exclusively women’s tournaments disagree. It’s a hotly debated topic.
Also worth noting that trans women are also barred from women’s-only tournaments, because international chess is governed by reprehensible people.
“you see, if you go through testosterone puberty you will get a certain bone density that gives you an unfair advantage in remembering how the little horses and castles move”
It’s true, all of my mental prowess comes from the boners in my brain bones
Yeah that’s vile.
FIDE is a reactionary institution.
Some federations are better. The USCF has made an attempt not to be transphobic. Players registered with them can submit and change their own gender identification. The Norwegian Chess federation is also cool and has been lobbying lobbying FIDE to stop being shitlords. Federations also have their own title systems and some have women’s titles.
Oh sick actually
It’s a TERF institution in the year of our lord 2025
oh decidedly not cool…
I’ll be honest I only read the first like two sentences of the response I replied to