Chess has historically been commented on as black and white, that extends beyond the board too. There are female and ‘open’ tournaments (which are traditionally male), ‘open’ and female titles, and if they are integrated in the same tournament, there are sometimes ‘open’ and female prizes.
This freedom of expression has been challenged by FIDE in August 2023. FIDE announced a policy that is… difficult for the transgender community to say the least. Examining the FIDE Regulations on Transgender Chess Player’s Registration on FIDE Directory. I go over some of the “highlights” in the episode. These rules in particular harm all trans players, specifically targeting AMAB (MtF) players.
This week, I wanted to look at someone who has challenged the gender binary by looking at Spanish Master Natalia Pares Vives - the woman who pioneered as being openly trans in the chess community.
Born in 1955, she won runner up for the Spanish Under 20 Championship in 1973 and 1975. She was the runner up in the 1975 and 1987 Catalina Chess Championship, the runner up in the 2008 Women’s Olympiad, the runner up in the 2008 Catalonia Women’s Championship, and she has represented Spain in both the Olympiad and the European Individual Chess Championship.
She acquired her FIDE Master rating in 1985 at the age of 30. She is often cited for Mastering the Englund Gambit. It was around this point that she disappeared from tournament play for close to 10 years. A period that she has called her ‘discovery phase’.
‘I couldn’t keep my mind on various fronts, and chess was pushed aside despite the fact that for many years it was an important part of my life.’ Vives said, translated from an article linked in the description.
During her time away, she was involved as the President of the Collective of Transsexuals of Catalonia and the president of the Federation of Transsexuals of Spain. Vives was also an early pioneer in designing and programming chess computers. She led the creation of the program Tigran,the first official chess program to come from Spain. Her computer scored 4th in the 1996 Spanish Computer Chess Championships.
Upon returning to play in 1998, President of the Spanish Chess Federation, Javier Ochoa de Echaguen (oh-cho-a de eh-sha-gen), said: ‘This is the first time that a similar case has been presented in the world of chess. Natalia meets all the legal requirements and therefore has the same rights to that of any player.’
Fast forward to today, a full 25 years later, and there are constant controversies around the world pertaining to the participation of trans men and women in sports, and chess has become no exception.
This type of anti-transgender policy is an attempt to keep incentives high for biological women to play the game.
In today’s game, we are traveling back to Round 4 of the 2009 Women’s Team Championship.
Natalia Pares Vives versus Sanja Dedijer
Now, if we’re ready - let’s begin.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bd7 5. Nf3 Bc6 6. Bd3
Nd7 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Ned2 Be7 9. Nc4 Bd5 10. Nce5 O-O 11. Re1 b6
12. c4 Bb7 13. Ng5 h6 14. Nexf7 Rxf7 15. Nxe6 Qb8 16. Bg6 Bd6
17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qc2 c5 19. Qf5 cxd4 20. Qh3 Ne5 21. Nxd4
Neg4 22. Nf5 Bxh2+ 23. Kf1 Be5 24. f3 Nh2+ 25. Kg1 Bc8 26. Bd2
Qc7 27. Bb4 Qd8 28. Rad1 Qc7 29. f4 Bxf5 30. Qxf5 Bxf4 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1561238
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalia_Par%C3%A9s_Vives
https://transstudiesarchive.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/trans-chess-master-natalia-pares-vives/
https://escacs.cat/premsa/marcamarzo4.pdf
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/TransgenderRegulations