International Chess Federation bars transgender women from women's only events

The International Chess Federation has barred transgender individuals who are biological men from competing in its women's only events pending "further analysis."

The decision will not affect the open play tournaments, CNN reported. The majority of FIDE's events are open play, while only a handful of events are exclusive to women.

"The absence of such regulations caused ambiguity and therefore an established order was needed to provide the right of the transgender players being properly represented on the official register of FIDE," the group told the outlet. 

"FIDE recognizes that this is an evolving issue for chess and that besides technical regulations on transgender regulations further policy may need to be evolved in the future in line with research evidence," its handbook states.

The new guidelines drew flak from transgender advocates, while others questioned the need to divide the tournaments by sex in the first place. Women's sports advocate Riley Gaines, however, celebrated the decision, contending the dispute was more a matter of preserving women only spaces.

"You hear the argument about brain size and brain ability. That's missing the point. The women's category is meant for women," she said on Fox News.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.