Changes to FIDE Rating and Title Regulations, Effective January 1, 2022

The FIDE Council recently approved changes to the Qualification Commission (QC) regulations, which come into effect on January 1, 2022. These changes affect the Rating Regulations, Rapid and Blitz Rating Regulations and Title Regulations. The FIDE QC presentations regarding the changes as well as a detailed list of all changes are available at https://qc.fide.com/downloads/.

Below is a list of the major changes to the FIDE regulations, along with noted changes/additions to US Chess policies so that we can comply with the regulations, which all FIDE arbiters (IA/FA/NA) and organizers of FIDE rated events in the USA should be aware of.

RATING REGULATIONS - https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B022022

(0.2) The FIDE deadline for registering FIDE rated non-norm tournaments will now be 3 days before the tournament starts.

Revised US Chess policy: FIDE regulations require non-norms tournaments to be registered at least 3 days before the tournament starts and norm tournaments to be registered at least 30 days before the tournament starts. To make sure there is adequate time to register your tournament with FIDE, US Chess requires at least 6 days advance notice for all non-norm tournaments and at least 33 days advance notice for all norm tournaments.

A failure to meet the US Chess deadlines for registering a tournament with FIDE may result in your tournament not being registered. A failure to meet the FIDE deadlines for registering a tournament will result in your tournament not being registered. Any tournament not registered with FIDE will not be submitted to FIDE for rating.

(1.1) The rating ranges for the minimum time controls necessary to have the games rated have increased:

For a game to be rated each player must at the start of the tournament have the following minimum periods in which to complete all the moves, assuming the game lasts 60 moves.

• Where at least one of the players in the game has a rating of 2400 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 120 minutes.
• Where at least one of the players in the game has a rating 1800 or higher, each player must have a minimum of 90 minutes.
• Where both of the players in the game are rated below 1800, each player must have a minimum of 60 minutes.

(1.2) The requirement to have the first time control always be set at 40 moves has been changed to be at least 30 moves. For example, the standard time control of 40/90, SD/30; +30 can now be 30/90, SD/30; +30.

(4) For tournaments lasting more than 30 days, interim reports must be reported on a monthly basis. The intent of this regulation is to have as many games rated in the appropriate rating list each month, games played in January are submitted in January and affect the February FRL, etc.

US Chess policy: For FIDE rated tournaments lasting more than 30 days, an interim report (the most up to date pairings/results file) must be submitted to the US Chess FIDE Events Manager no later than 4 days prior to the end of each month so that all games played so far may be submitted to FIDE for rating in that month. The interim report must be provided in the format required by US Chess, https://new.uschess.org/news/fide-rating-reports-submission-update-effective-july-1-2021. Such events will not need to be submitted to US Chess for rating on an interim basis.

Example: Tournament played at one game/week, from January 25 to March 1, 2022

• Jan 25 - Round 1 played
• Jan 27 - Latest date to submit interim report to FIDE Events Manager, which includes round 1 results
• Feb 1 - Round 2 played
• Feb 8 - Round 3 played
• Feb 15 - Round 4 played
• Feb 22 - Round 5 played
• Feb 24 - Latest date to submit interim report to FIDE Events Manager, which includes rounds 1-5 results (FIDE Events Manager will submit only rounds 2-5 for rating)
• Mar 1 - Round 6 played
• Mar 8 - Latest date to submit tournament to US Chess for rating and provide final files to FIDE Events Manager for FIDE rating the final round only since rounds 1-5 have been submitted previously

Round Robin events have changed significantly. Most of the old regulations relating to round robin events have been eliminated, specifically what was known as the “iterative” round robins which involved 4 rated players and 6 unrated players where all players would receive a rating after the event. Now, all round robin events have no requirement on the minimum number of FIDE rated players needed, and unrated players will only receive a rating based on the normal rating regulations (8.2).

(8.31) A difference in rating of more than 400 points shall be counted for rating purposes as though it were a difference of 400 points. However, a player may now only benefit from one upgrade under this rule per tournament, the game in which the rating difference is greatest.

(9.1) All tournament reports must now be submitted for rating in time for the tournament to be rated in the monthly list in which the tournament is registered or, if there are five days or less from the last day of the tournament to the end of the month, for the following list. If the tournament report is not submitted in time to be included in the third rating list after it ends, the tournament will not be rated.

US Chess policy: All FIDE rated tournaments that end at least 6 days prior to the end of the month must be submitted to US Chess for rating, and the necessary US Chess procedures followed to FIDE rate the event (https://new.uschess.org/news/fide-rating-reports-submission-update-effective-july-1-2021), no later than 3 days prior to the end of the month.

All other FIDE rated tournaments must be submitted to US Chess for rating, and the necessary US Chess procedures followed to FIDE rate the event (https://new.uschess.org/news/fide-rating-reports-submission-update-effective-july-1-2021), no later than 7 days after the end of the tournament.

Hybrid events were officially added to the rating regulations, but their registration must still be approved individually by the FIDE QC Chair per the announcement at https://www.fide.com/news/906. Full PGN files must be submitted with all hybrid tournament reports.

RAPID AND BLITZ RATING REGULATIONS - https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B02RBRegulations2022

Hybrid events were added for rating rapid and blitz events, with the same provisions required as in the regular rating in terms of requiring approval by the FIDE QC Chair and the submission of PGN files with the tournament report.

(7.31) The rating difference regulations now match the standard rating regulation of 400 points and only one upgrade per tournament, the game in which the rating difference is greatest.

TITLE REGULATIONS (PLAYERS) - https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B012022

(1.11) Hybrid events have been added to the title regulations for potential future use.

Increment Requirement Removed - The requirement to have an increment of at least 30 seconds per move for norm events has been removed.

(1.41c) The issues relating to the awarding of 8-game norms in 9-round tournaments have been clarified to what was the original intent of the regulation. A game that was won by forfeit or a pairing allocated bye (not a requested bye) are the only two allowable reasons for an 8-game norm to be awarded in the case of a player not playing all 9 rounds of a 9-round tournament. The player must still have met the correct mix of opponents in those 8 games. Such a norm will now count as a 9-game norm in title applications but only one such norm can be included in a title application.

(1.41e) In round robin tournaments, a player must play in all scheduled rounds and the norm can only be awarded based on the full tournament. It is no longer possible to get a norm by ignoring any games, such as those before the last round because a norm has already been achieved.

(1.42e) The format of events allowable for norms now includes Swiss, Round Robin, Double Round Robin, Scheveningen, Schiller and Knockout tournaments. Any other format from the above requires approval of the FIDE QC Chair.

(1.43d) A clarification for “Super Swiss” tournaments now includes that player will be counted only if they miss at most one round, excluding pairing allocated byes. This means that a non-host federation player cannot play less than 8 rounds of a 9-round tournament and still be included in the count towards meeting the “Super Swiss” requirements, unless they also received a pairing allocated bye. Note that half-point byes are not considered pairing allocated byes.

(1.56) Any title application containing a norm not achieved before June 30, 2022, must include at least one norm from an individual Swiss tournament with every round containing at least 40 participants whose average rating is at least 2000. For this purpose, players will be counted only if they miss at most one round, excluding pairing allocated byes. This new regulation means that title applications will no longer be allowed to only contain norms achieved in round robin events.

(1.91) Tournament reports must include a PGN file of at least those games played by players who achieved title results for Swiss and team tournaments, and all games played for other tournaments. A failure to provide all the games required in a PGN file will mean that the norm will not be approved.

Please contact Chris Bird, US Chess FIDE Events Manager at Click here to show email address if you have any questions relating to this article.