Women

This is a disturbing and insulting decision to both cis-women as well as transgender men and women.

Besides the decision itself, here are some additional "gems" that show its backwardness:

Transgender men who transition after winning women's titles would see those titles "abolished," the federation said, while holding out the possibility of a reinstatement "if the person changes the gender back to a woman."

"If a player has changed the gender from a man into a woman, all the previous titles remain eligible," the federation said.

And, if it wouldn't be so sad, this here would have me roling on the floor. It seems, FIDE has not reached 2023 yet.. (It also sadly shows that even some women are still stuck in the 1950's)

A top global chess official Friday called for more research into whether factors such as hormone levels and physical endurance might have an impact on players' abilities at the male-dominated game. Her comments came after the world chess federation was heavily criticized for its decision to block transgender women from official women's events. (...)

(...)"What is still not clear is if the hormonal levels do influence the competitiveness in chess," Reizniece-Ozola said by video from Latvia's capital, Riga. "There is no serious research or scientific analysis that would prove one or the other way. There are speculations, but no more than that."

One of the reasons why so few women play chess and the reality of what female chess players had and have to fight against:

UK MP Angela Eagle, who was a joint winner of the 1976 British Girls' Under-18 chess championship, said: "There is no physical advantage in chess unless you believe men are inherently more able to play than women - I spent my chess career being told women's brains were smaller than men's and we shouldn't even be playing."

"This ban is ridiculous and offensive to women," she added.

Edit: removed redundancy