General Discussion

Since the time sport began, there have been individuals who are prepared to "win at any cost" and sometimes, regarding transgender sports persons, there is a genuine reason. However, in other situations, it is just cheating and immoral.

I have a huge amount of compassion for the likes of athletes, such as Caster Semenya, the South African Middle Distance runner, who now identifies as a woman. She is someone who was born a man but never felt like a man. My personal thoughts are that we should not deprive her of entering women's events because legally, now, she is a woman. 

On the other side of the coin, in 2019, there was a Kenyan Athlete called Shieys Chepkosgei who entered female races in Malaysia, Morocco, and several other African events under the name of Hillary Kiprotich - who was found out when it was established she had a male organ.

And chess is not out of the spotlight either. Over the years chess has had its own issues and my attention was recently drawn to the 1985 British Womans Correspondence Championship where a Miss Leigh Strange won the event only, 15 years later, for Nick Downs to have received a ban for impersonating a female in the event.  

A common factor in all these situations, as has been the case during my investigative career, is that the truth will always come out. People have a habit of slipping up and making mistakes and ultimately being found out - which is when it becomes embarrassing. 

Some recently criticized me for suggesting that we should provide a Utility Bill when joining a federation. I dare say that had a Utility Bill been requested at the 1985 British Womans Correspondence Chess Championship, then the embarrassing situation would never have arisen.

One final point I have on this subject is the question as to why someone would even want to pose as another person. I mean, If you win an event or you win a title, you get no recognition for it - so why do it?

It's cheating. You risk personal embarrassment. You deprive someone else of entry into the event and you risk all this for potentially no reward.

To me, it doesn't make sense. 

Anyway, interested in anyone's comments or concerns regarding competitors in chess or sport in general

There really isn't a case for gender specific titles or tournaments in CC, this has been recognised for some years by ICCF.

Hi Austin. I recognise that. That wasn't the intention of the post. 

The purpose of the post was why would someone, in this case a man, pose as a woman to win a title or competition. 

What benefit did Nick Downs get from winning the womens title. He couldn't celebrate his win under his own name and eventually got banned. 

And, at the time, potentially prevented someone else from taking part

I just don't understand why anyone would do it

Hi Austin. I recognise that. That wasn't the intention of the post. 

The purpose of the post was why would someone, in this case a man, pose as a woman to win a title or competition. 

What benefit did Nick Downs get from winning the womens title. He couldn't celebrate his win under his own name and eventually got banned. 

And, at the time, potentially prevented someone else from taking part

I just don't understand why anyone would do it

The whole transgender thing is a joke, imo. And lots of guys are pretending to be women in certain sports in order to get prizes. It's just mental. :-) Hopefully, common sense will eventually prevail. 

Agree, it's a joke.

No idea why anyone would do it (maybe because the Lady GM title was only ever the equivalent of a modern CCM, or because the ladies world championship was never more than a category 5, so some people thought it was an easy path to glory... who knows?), but as we, rightly, no longer have gender specific events, it's no longer an issue.

We're chess players - we're not male or female chess players, black or white chess players, gay or straight chess players... we're just chess players.

Now... why do we still have an event exclusively for "veterans"? - Anyone care to answer that one? ;-)

Cheers,

Austin

That's a very interesting question, Austin. I didn't know such things existed in chess. 

We did have some opposition to the discontinuation of ladies titles and tournaments, ICCF is quite a conservative organisation (mostly run by men!)... the over 60s event is still a bit of an anomaly (and even more so in CC, where probably more than half of us could be considered "veterans") - I don't know why we still run it.

I have a huge amount of compassion for the likes of athletes, such as Caster Semenya, the South African Middle Distance runner, who now identifies as a woman. She is someone who was born a man but never felt like a man.

That just isn’t true: I suggest you look up Semenya’s history before making assertions like this. Her case is ethically and legally complex, but she wasn’t ‘born a man’. (Actually no one is ‘born a man’: ‘man‘ is a category we only use for adults; but she was assigned female at birth.)