Yeah, these categories are not a reflection of physical (or in this case mental abilities) but to give women a chance to shine in a mostly male dominated field. The problem is that when one side has bias in it's favor, or is simply more prevalent in the competition, they get way over-represented and it discourages people from the other side(s) to join in since it seem futile.

I think maybe a good way to get rid of this problem is for competition to feature more categories. In chess, for example, you could have categories and tournaments like youngest, newest to the game, underdogs, etc. which are more likely to feature a variety of players.

I appreciate you.

The gender division is because women on average are worse then men at chess and likely to be eliminated in a tournament early on if they manage to qualify at all.

This is because chess is a boys club where men and boys get better training and have an easier time advancing and practicing then women.

The best way to get better at chess however are tournaments, where you can play your equal under a stressful and emotional context. Since women can't advance as well as men because of discrimination, they wouldnt be able to play tournaments making it even more difficult to advance their game.

The women's league are created so that women can play in tournaments, get practice, get better and be able to play in the big boy tournaments as well as a creating an environment where sexual harrasment, which is also a problem at the main tournaments, is mitigated.

Of course they are, the pieces are super manly in the men's games. Made of concrete for extra ruggedness and painted manly colors, nothing bright or cheerful as far as the eye could see. And the chairs they sit in are also super manly no comfort at all. All played on a manly tactical chessboard. /S

Seriously though this whole decision just screams "cruelty is the point" and no concept of equality.

Yeah. I was reminded of the sports "debate" as well. Chess is one of the sports where you wonder why they have a gender division in the first place. Are they afraid of loosing to trans people or women (cis and trans)?

The misogyny is so hefty. “Men are inherently better at everything than women, women are inherently worse at everything than men. Trans women are men, therefore inherently better than all other women at everything and must be disqualified…”

I wish I could remember the quote (and who said it) about how all the various forms of sex/gender/orientation hate boil down to misogyny. It was erudite and extremely effective.

I need clarification. What does "social advantage" have to do with chess performance, or the restricted competition class of women's chess?

Their motivation essentially boils down to "We have to separate them to protect women from the terrifying power of the superior male intellect".

The idea (and I'm not defending it here necessarily, just stating FIDE's reasoning) is to offer a safe space for women to compete professionally at the game. There's a huge "boy's club" problem in chess and many of some of the best male players in the world are notoriously sexist. Women who have participated in the mainline tournaments in the past have complained of sexism. Garry Kasparov even notoriously claimed one woman was cheating after she bested him.

Chess isn't also gendered both ways. There's women's tournaments and women's titles, but not a men's tournament. Men participate in an "everybody" tournament that women are welcome to join.

Think of it like the women's only carriages in trains in some countries. Only women can go in those carriages, but women can go in the other carriages if they want to.

The reason for gendered distinctions in chess is entirely social, ostensibly because boys are pushed toward chess more than girls. This ruling is entirely bizarre, imo

It's almost certainly transphobia, but it can also be considered misogyny because he's implying that AMAB people have an inherent advantage over women.

There is a huge gender gap and the men discriminate against women and prefer to play other men. Thus the women get worse/less diverse practice than men which leads to them being worse at chess on average than men.

This leads to them not qualifying for tournaments, which means even less chances to practice because the best way to get better are tournaments. Thus the womens league so they can at least play their equal in a tournament setting. Also having a lower entry barrier for women hopefully motivates more women/girls to play chess.