Nazi Paikidze said that she would find it difficult to play in a hijab

Leading women chess players have threatened to boycott the world championship in Iran because they will be forced to compete wearing Islamic headscarves.

Female grandmasters condemned the choice of venue for the women’s world championship, saying that the country’s dress code violated the governing body Fide’s statutes on gender and religious discrimination.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution all women in Iran are required to wear a headscarf in public. Vice squads patrol the streets enforcing the law. Those who flout them risk jail or floggings.

It is common for women in Azerbaijan to wear the headscarves OLEKSANDR RUPETA/GETTY IMAGES

Players said they were also worried about the safety of contestants, following an increase in arrests of foreigners by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The American woman grandmaster Nazi Paikidze said that contestants would find it difficult to play in a hijab.