麻豆社

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) says it is temporarily banning transgender women from competing in its women's events.

FIDE has said individual cases would require "further analysis" and that a decision could take up to two years.

The move has been criticised by some players and enthusiasts.

Many sports governing bodies have been working on policies towards transgender athletes, but chess does not involve comparable levels of physical activity. However FIDE told the 麻豆社 it wanted to analyse the impact of these policies and did not want to rush this process.

"The transgender legislation is rapidly developing in many countries and many sport bodies are adopting their own policies," it said. It added that transgender players could still compete in the open section of its tournaments.

Yosha Iglesias, a trans woman professional chess master, said the policy would lead to "unnecessary harm" for trans players and women. She gave her reaction to Newshour.

(Photo shows: Chess pieces on a chess board. 麻豆社)

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