a day ago
Transgender teenager's German chess triumph prompts call for ban
A transgender teenager has caused an upset in German chess circles by winning an under-18 girls' national tournament, prompting calls for tougher rules even in a sedentary sport that relies on brainpower.
Nora Heidemann's victory to become German champion in the female category of the youth chess championship in Willingen this month was met with criticism from some players and from the head of the German commission for women's chess, Nadja Jussupow.
The former champion said that more trans women were entering women's chess tournaments since the introduction in 2024 of Germany's Self-Determination Act, which made it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people to have their gender and forenames changed in the civil status records.
'They haven't undergone any treatment or anything — they merely declared themselves to be women,' Jussupow told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
