Women's chess tournaments are an interesting phenomenon.
One can argue that women haven't historically been encouraged to play chess, and that explains the rather huge difference at the top level of chess. Only Judit Polgar could compete with the men at the top level. No other woman has done that.
If this is true, then a trans-woman may or may not have had the same encouragement and support to become a good chess player, depending on when they transitioned.
Honestly, I see little purpose for women's titles or women's tournaments, except as an encouragement for women to get into the sport. The ELO rating is non-gender (though it can be skewed if the pools of players don't play against each other enough), and there are no such things as men-only tournaments.
One can argue that women haven't historically been encouraged to play chess, and that explains the rather huge difference at the top level of chess. Only Judit Polgar could compete with the men at the top level. No other woman has done that.
If this is true, then a trans-woman may or may not have had the same encouragement and support to become a good chess player, depending on when they transitioned.
Honestly, I see little purpose for women's titles or women's tournaments, except as an encouragement for women to get into the sport. The ELO rating is non-gender (though it can be skewed if the pools of players don't play against each other enough), and there are no such things as men-only tournaments.
