FIDE stepped in it with this nonsense that Jennifer Shahade calls out, brilliantly tying it to the Chess #MeToo movement:

Last week, the International Chess Federation, or FIDE, announced new regulations on transgender players, including new restrictions on transgender women competing in women’s events and stripping trans men of previously won women’s titles. This conflicts with the policies observed by the U.S. Chess Federation and many others. (The Russian government quickly praised the decision and urged other “international sports organizations [to] follow this move.”)

FIDE’s announcement comes as chess’ MeToo movement has escalated in recent weeks. The governing body’s move seems like a smoke screen, a way to divert attention from MeToo. But the dual bigotry goes back to the origins of chess.

After FIDE’s dumbassery, US Chess reminded people of its Transgender Policy:

At their quarterly meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, the US Chess Federation’s Executive Board adopted the following transgender policy on May 20, 2018, by a unanimous vote of 7-0: “The Executive Board moves to adopt the following transgender policy as provided by legal counsel: Allow a person to identify as they choose, and allow each person one change to their gender identification. If an individual attempts a second change to gender identification, at that time the individual must provide US Chess a birth certificate, and the birth gender indicated on the birth certificate will be used to determine gender for US Chess purposes.

In the comments section, you’ll find:

And you should know that Jennifer Shahade has resigned from US Chess:

Sadly, I leave with heavy concerns. After I went public in February with a viral tweet about being assaulted by a prominent Grandmaster, things escalated quickly. More women came forward to me and a Wall Street Journal article, “How Allegations Against a U.S. Grandmaster Went Unaddressed for Years” dropped on International Women’s Day.  You can read a particularly detailed account of the timeline and institutional failures—in lichess’s “Breaking the Silence” as well as a subsequent WSJ piece on the fallout. One of the most alarming facts that came out was that US Chess sent Alejandro as a coach at the Women’s Olympiad—an event that includes over 100 minors—despite my repeated warnings (in addition to warnings from others) that he allegedly abused a 15-year-old, and that he had also attacked me. With the truth out, I was hopeful, perhaps naively so, that I could help reset the pieces and forge a better future within US Chess especially for our girls and children.