https://www.yahoo.com/news/trans-teen-chess-win-germany-192521074.html
In competitive chess, where the clash of queens and bishops usually eclipses cultural warfare, a teenage girl has found herself at the center of Germany’s latest front in the debate over transgender women’s inclusion in sports.

Nora Heidemann, 17, a trans girl from North Rhine-Westphalia, made history this month by winning Germany’s under-18 girls’ chess championship, scoring 7.5 out of nine points and outperforming 27 rivals. Her victory, reported by Apollo News, a German political news outlet, and later detailed in The Times of London, has triggered a fierce conversation over who belongs in women’s competitions — even in pursuits where brainpower, not physical power, rules the day.

Heidemann’s competed in the open U18 division at her state-level event but failed to qualify directly, according to Apollo News. Her legal gender change was finalized only after the deadline for girls’ registration had passed. Ultimately, she secured one of five discretionary “free places,” awarded based on performance ratings, not gender identity, the outlet reports.

Still, her win has fueled skepticism from some quarters of the German chess community. Nadja Jussupow, head of the German Commission for Women’s Chess and a former champion, stated that more trans women have been entering women’s tournaments since Germany’s Self-Determination Act took effect in 2021. The Times reports that she claimed some cisgender women players were considering quitting, fearing unfair competition.

Jussupow suggested a one-year waiting period for newly legally recognized trans women before competing in women’s categories, a proposal that reportedly found support among some women’s chess referees.